


Two Queens of Arendelle

by tablefootie



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon Compliant, Gen, HTTYD characters cameo, I intended them as OC at first but they evolved as I wrote, Post-Frozen 2 (2019), Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 18:33:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 39,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21823048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tablefootie/pseuds/tablefootie
Summary: Elsa waking up the elemental spirits has attracted the attention of another sorceress. Events are set in motion that will determine the fate on Arendelle and its two Queens. Set in the spring after Frozen 2
Relationships: Anna & Elsa (Disney), Anna/Kristoff (Disney), Elsa/Honeymaren (Disney)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 77





	1. Chapter 1

On the night Elsa awoke the Elemental spirits, half a continent away, a hunched figure in a black cloak was walking down a quiet country road to the next village, holding an orb topped staff she didn’t really need for walking. Even at this distance, she could feel the power of the magic in the night air. Standing more erect, she planted her staff into the ground and waved her long-nailed hands around the orb, focusing her thoughts on the direction and source of the magic.

Slowly the orb started to glow, first in cloudy purple before an image of a young lady standing on a rock apparently screaming at the nearby fjord appeared. The old lady allowed herself an approving smirk as ice crystals magically formed all around the younger woman. Then the picture faded back to cloudy murk as the blonde in the orb ceased using her magic and the crystals fell to the ground, but not before the old woman recognised the castle in the background – it was time to head back home.

“She’ll do nicely.”

* * *

The small group of riders galloped down Arendelle‘s cobbled roads, barely avoiding the spring late morning foot traffic as they raced towards into castle’s open gate. In the courtyard, there was more than the usual activity as the Imperial Guard got urgently readied itself for immediate deployment. At the lead of the pack Kristoff, galloped Sven all the way to the palace to the main doors and jumped off.

“Lord Kristoff,” a guardsman greeted, taking Sven’s reigns. Kristoff acknowledged with a nod of the head before racing inside to the map room. The guards at the door saw him and the other cavalry scouts approaching and opened the double doors to the room. Looking slightly out of place in his civilian jerkin surrounded by men in military uniform, Kristoff made his report.

“Almost three thousand men, infantry and a few wagonloads. Crossed the border here and heading North. They will be at the river by nightfall.”

Anna looked at her fiancé, with relief that he got back safely but also with dread at what had just been said. She turned to the naval officer at her right.

“Admiral Westergard, will the flotilla be in position to cover these two crossings by then?” beckoning to the map drawing of the two bridges closest to the sea.

“That is right my Queen,” answered the admiral.

General Mattias said, “Only the cavalry will be able to reach the crossing in time. They will be heavily outnumbered.”

“We have Elsa,” replied Anna confidently. She had a message quickly composed and sent by Gale earlier in the morning, once the graveness of the situation started becoming clearer.

“What if she doesn’t get there in time?” questioned another officer.

“Then we hold the crossing until she or the infantry shows up. I will lead them personally.”

* * *

_Kristoff was waiting at the palace courtyard as instructed by Anna the previous day. Looking around and not seeing her anywhere, he idly observed the nearby guards practising their drills._

_“Hey Kristoff! Catch!” greeted Anna throwing him a sheathed sword. Startled, Kristoff fumbled the catch but managed to not drop the weapon._

_“What do you plan to do today?” Kristoff asked, inspecting the Arendellian crest on the pommel of the sword he was holding._

_“Well you are pretty good fighting against wolves, but what would you do if we met some bad men who want to have their way with the Princess of Arendelle? Will you be able to defend my honour?”_

_“Hmm bad men usually leave us ice harvesters alone because while we don’t have much money we do have lots of pick axes.”_

_“Protect my honour Kristoff,” Anna mock-swooned as she drew her own sword._

_“A rapier? Old school,” said Kristoff as he recognised the ornate crossguard and hilt designs of Anna’s sword. Rapiers had been out of fashion for over 100 years._

_“An elegant weapon, from a less civilised time,” Anna said as made a few practice strokes with her rapier._

_“Just like its owner… the elegant part! Not the less civilised...”_

_“Show me what you got, ice man.”_

_“Should we really be doing this? It seems kind of danger-“_

_“My princess!” interrupted a guardsman carrying a couple of wooden training swords. “Queen Elsa insists that you use these.”_

_Anna glanced back to up to Elsa’s study on one of the higher floors of the castle._

_“You’re no fun.”_

_“Princess?” asked the hapless guardsman._

_“Fine, we’ll take them,” Anna said while giving an exaggerated salute to the figure watching from the high window. She then sheathed her rapier into the scabbard she had engraved her name onto during her lonely teenage year, and proceeded to take one of the offered wooden swords. Kristoff took the other and returned the real sword to the guardsman who gladly bowed and backed away._

_Anna suddenly lunged at Kristoff, wooden sword making short, sharp jabbing motions. Kristoff was forced to take several steps back, barely keeping his footing as Anna advanced. A quick stroke from Anna disarmed him and he fell onto his behind as he finally lost his balance._

_Triumphant and with a large grin, Anna used the tip of her sword to lift Kristoff’s chin._

_“Don’t worry, I’ll make a man out of you yet.”_

* * *

“The first thing I’m going to do when we get back is to commission some proper armour for myself,” complained Anna as they rode to the bridge in a carriage pulled one a couple of the sturdier palace horses. None of the sets of plate in the armoury had fitted her and even the smallest set was so oversized that she looked extremely ridiculous in it. Better no armour at all instead of looking like that while leading her troops or negations with the interlopers. She was instead wearing a belt that held her rapier and a dagger, which she badly hoped she wouldn’t need to use.

Beside her, Kristoff had changed out of his civilian garb into something more befitting an Arendellian Lord and future husband of the Queen.

“Elsa should catch up with us soon, but I can’t help but wonder what how they plan to counter her. They must know that she will ride to our defense whether she lives in the castle or in the woods. ”

“I’m worried about that too. The easiest way would be to try and assassinate her and the good Duke already tried exactly that before. And our relations with Weselton were just starting to improve.”

“Why would they invade if it is all going so well?”

“I don’t know. Hopefully they will be willing to talk about it; otherwise I’ll need to pull the biggest bluff in history if Elsa doesn’t make it in time. And we both know that I’m bad at lying.”

It was already dusk when they laid eyes on the bridge, the opposing army closing in from the opposite bank. It would be a tight finish but Anna estimated that her forward cavalry units would reach the bridge first. A light evening drizzle had begun pouring down. Thunderbolts and lightning signalled worse yet to come.

“That’s very frightening,” said Olaf as he peeked over the carriage side looking at the gathering storm clouds. He had insisted on following them on their adventure.

“Just what we need,” grumbled Kristoff.

As the raindrops started impacting the ground, snow flurries suddenly started forming in the sky. Quickly, the drizzle then turned into a light snowfall.

“The Snow Queen is here!” yelled one of the accompanying cavalrymen, enlisting more cheers from the other men. Their trump card had arrived.

Soon the blue glow of Nokk’s sapphire eyes became visible on the road back to Arendelle. As it got closer the rider in white became visible in the encroaching darkness. Soon Elsa reached the carriage and brought her steed back from a gallop to a trot.

“I’m so glad you caught up with us in time,” Anna said. “I hope you are not too tired from the journey.”

At least Kristoff and Anna managed to catch some shut eye as the other drove the carriage, but even though Elsa travelled more than twice the distance from Northuldra, she didn’t feel tired and certainly didn’t look it.

“Nokk is a surprisingly smooth ride. Anything to fill me in on? There wasn’t much in the note you sent.”

Anna explained that three thousand men had crossed the border with Weselton in the early morning and now they were in a race to the bridge to hold the chokepoint before the other could reach it.

“Even if they made it across, I can just erect an ice barrier and they will never get though. What are they planning?”

“Guess we will find out soon enough,” shrugged Anna.


	2. Chapter 2

“They want to parley,” reported the a cavalry officer. Around him other Arendellian soldiers busied themselves constructing defensive earthworks.

“Of course they do. Who are they sending?” asked Anna as she dismounted, trying hard to hide her dismay that her soldiers were preparing for war around her.

“The Duke is here, along with General Aximand and Commander Ezekyle of the Black Company.”

“Black Company?” questioned Kristoff. He didn’t like the sound of them.

“They are mercenaries,” answered Elsa, remembering some issues they caused during her reign as queen.

Anna started walking to the stone bridge flanked by her sister and Kristoff. She nudged Elsa, pointed to the tiara on her head and then towards Elsa’s bare forehead. Understanding, Elsa put her hands over her head and when she removed them, there was a beautiful ice circlet beneath. Anna smiled in approval. Now they were both queens.

“I sense magic in the air,” Elsa urgently whispered as they got quarter way across the bridge.

“From them? Good or bad kind?” Anna inquired.

“From further back. And I definitely have a bad feeling.”

Throughout the exchange neither sister changed her walking pace and Kristoff could barely hear the exchange even standing right beside them. 

* * *

Soon they were face to face with short, elderly man with two much bigger and younger men by his sides, one wearing a similar red tunic and the other in clad in black.

“Good evening gentlemen,” greeted Anna with cheerfulness that bordered on sarcasm. “Why are you on my lands?” All three men responded with deep bows. Kristoff looked at Anna for guidance and when neither she nor Elsa reacted, he didn’t too.

“I must apologise for this intrusion,” began the Duke, fixing the position of his glasses he stood back upright.

“Invasion,” corrected Anna sternly. Beside her Elsa scanned the troops on the opposite shore for the source of the magic or perhaps a sharpshooter, ready to raise an ice barrier at the first sign of trouble.

“Semantics your highness,” countered the Duke. “As you know our economy has been suffering since the unfortunate incident –“

“Since you sent your men to kill me,” Elsa shot back in an unnaturally even tone.

“Yes very regrettable and I beg for your forgiveness.” The Duke bows again. “I believe you may not be fully aware of the fragile state of my current government. As I mentioned, our economy has been in a perilous state since the cancellation of trade agreements with Arendelle and the tulip crash has hit us especially hard. Domestic politics demanded that drastic action be taken, hence this trade expedition.”

Kristoff had to try very hard to remember his etiquette training to not scream at that point. _Risking war over trade?_ Actually not that uncommon once he remembered several recent incidents, but having it occurring to your own country is a different thing entirely. Anna and Elsa nevertheless remained stoic.

“I must unfortunately insist on leaving with a finalised trade deal,” the Duke hands Anna a piece of expensive looking paper that she quickly reads.

“This deal is worse for Weselton than the one we agreed to last week.”

“Yes of course, I took the liberty of assuming retaliation for all this unpleasantness and modified the terms accordingly. I also have several wagonloads of valuable goods here to be given as a gesture of goodwill. I am afraid don’t have sufficient liquid assets to compensate you otherwise. We will withdraw immediately with the signed accords. Again I must stress that myself returning empty handed may cause much instability to my country.”

Although Anna didn’t wish to acquiescence, the deal was indeed very favourable for Arendelle and would defuse the military standoff. She shot a quick look at Elsa who gave a _You’re queen now_ expression in reply.

“Fine, I will approve this deal. However I demand an added condition that that no more Weselton forces will every breach the Arendellian sovereignty without expression permission from myself or my government. Failure to comply will make this agreement null and void. And my men will escort your entourage back over the border.”

“These are acceptable terms,” the Duke said, visibly relieved with the result. He beckoned a chair and table to be brought towards them where the deal was signed.

“Thank you for your generosity, I hope our next meeting will be equally beneficial to all involved.”

“As do I,” Anna lied convincingly. 

* * *

“That was a waste of time,” Kristoff said once he was sure they were out of earshot.

“The Duke must be playing some serious political games back at home, no other reason why he would go through all this trouble otherwise. I had half a mind to get Kristoff to throw him into the river for trying to kill you,” Anna added.

“Well the past is the past, but the thought did cross my mind,” Elsa replied with a smile, running a hand through her loose hair. _Did I unmake my circlet already?_

Anna gave orders to some officers regarding accompanying the Weseltonians back to the border while Kristoff took charge of organising the transfer the wagons. Elsa stood aside from her countrymen as the wagon train started crossing the bridge. She felt the magic source coming closer, along with a feeling of wrongness. Looking around, no one else seemed to be affected.

_Is there a magical trinket in one of those wagons?_ Elsa pondered as curiosity got the better of her and she wandered closer to the road. An ornate, full length standing mirror in an ivory frame caught her eye. As the wagon moved pass, she caught a glimpse of her reflection loudly sucked in her breath.

The image looking back at her was all wrong, wearing in imposing dark blue dress and with short, upward pointing jet black hair. Her dark eyes were sunken as though gone without sleep for days and the colour of her skin a pallid white. Worse, the reflection turned towards her and contorted its lips into a shape that Elsa belatedly realised some dark parody of a smile.

**_Hello Elsa_** it said in another worldly voice that was only similar to Elsa’s in the most grotesque way possible.

**_We are going to have so much fun together now that we have met._ **


	3. Chapter 3

“Driver, halt the wagon!” commanded Elsa in a regal voice that came to her naturally.

She walked the few spaces to the side of the wagon filled with other expensive furniture, her eyes where focused on the ivory mirror. However this time all it reflected were her frowning blue eyes and Anna walking quickly over to her.

“Is this the source of the magic?”

Elsa looks at their reflections starting back at them. Unsure she replies, “I think it was, but now I'm not feeling much magic from it anymore.”

 ** _Looking for me?_** said a voice that sounded both very familiar and extremely foreign from behind the two sisters.

Anna didn’t seem to hear. “Looks like a perfectly normal mirror to me. I don’t like white too much though.”

Elsa’s doppelganger turned to walk around Anna, like a hungry predator circling an unwary prey.

 _Touch her and I will blast you._ Elsa could feel the coldness spreading in her palms as she prepared her icy magic.

 ** _Talkative, this one is._** It was now in front of Anna who was now talking about the difficulties of colour matching in ivory white mirror with the rest of the palace’s décor. Its long, black nailed finger began to reach for Anna’s face.

_No!_

The ice bolt sailed straight through the its head harmlessly and impacted against a passing wagon, turning into a sheet of ice.

“Elsa!” gasped Anna, taking a step back in surprise. Fortunately in the gathering darkness, no one else had noticed what had happened.

**_Ah, this one is important to us! Interesting! Friend? Family? Lover?_ **

_She is my sister you freak!_

The doppelganger and Anna look at Elsa and her outstretched arm, one with sly curiosity and the other with confusion. Suddenly feeling very awkward, Elsa lowers her hand.

“You don’t happen to see a pale woman in a blue dress standing beside you?”

Anna makes quick glances to either side. “Nope, are you alright Elsa?”

**_Yes Elsa, are we alright?_ **

“I appear to have a voice in my head again,” Elsa sighed.

“Hey guys! Who is your new friend? Hi my name is Olaf!” All heads turned towards the approaching magical snowman.

**_Wow did we make this? Can we make more?_ **

“You can see the thing Elsa is seeing?” Anna asked.

“Yeah I do! Don't you see? She kinda looks like Elsa but she like a sickly, sleep deprived version of Elsa with a very... aggressive hairstyle,” Olaf described, pointing with his stick arm. Turning back to the Elsa-but-not-Elsa, “Would you like something to… Hey where did she go?”

Elsa took a quick look around. It had disappeared as quickly as silently as it appeared. “I can’t see it but I can still feel it nearby.”

Anna quickly took Elsa’s hand in a reassuring grasp. “Then you better tell us what is going on quickly before it comes back.”

* * *

“So why not destroy the mirror? Destroy its home and get rid of it that way,” suggested Kristoff.

“There is barely any magic left in it so I doubt that is the source of its power. Plus we may need to use it to re-trap this doppelganger,” cautioned Elsa.

“I have an idea of what we could do with the mirror,” Anna declared, “but is it safe to tell you my plans? Will it hear?”

“I don’t know,” groaned Elsa. “I don’t feel it in my thoughts now that it has disappeared if that is what you’re asking.”

“The army is getting here and you are here too. Why don’t we march back over the river and get some answers?” Kristoff’s hand unconsciously drifts to the hilt of his sword.

“Elsa attacking a retreating army that we have already come to terms with would be a diplomatic disaster.” Anna hated herself for not being able to prioritise her sister, but her months as Queen had already sharpened her finesse for politics. Many countries, including so-called allies, would welcome the prospect of the Snow Queen of Arendelle ceasing to be a factor in continental diplomacy. 

A bright explosion of light caused everyone to look skywards. Thinking they were under attack, some soldiers took cover wherever they could. In the sky, amongst the clouds white, glistening snowflakes began their slow descent back to earth. Ice magic.

Elsa followed Anna and Kristoff’s gaze to her own arm raised skywards, ice flurries dancing around her open palm. Holding her arm up was her doppelganger, its dark thin lips a maleficent grin too wide for its face.

* * *

**_“Didn’t the witch say the mirror will make her lose control? All she seems to be is slightly distracted by that damnable piece of furniture.”_ **

**_“Their army redeployments are exactly as we expected, my men will slip through and be in position in a matter of days. Soon it won’t matter how much in control she is, she’ll be too dead to care.”_ **


	4. Chapter 4

**_Where are we now?_** Elsa’s unwanted companion was somehow able to keep up with Elsa’s long strides without actually moving.

 _To meet the trolls to see if they can get rid of you._ Elsa had dismounted Nokk to walk the remaining distance to the Valley of the Living Rock on foot.

**_Where are we going?_ **

“For the last time, we are going to meet the rock trolls to get you out of my stupid head!”

**_Hey don’t be rude! I only kept asking because you weren’t answering me._ **

_You can’t hear my thoughts?_ Elsa waited for a response but her shadow appeared more interested in an inscribed rock by the side of the path.

“I asked if you can hear my thoughts.”

 ** _Hmm? No I can’t._** Elsa was sceptical; it could a trick to make her thoughts unguarded.

The rustling of leaves heralded a rock that emerged into view ahead of them. As it rolled closer to Elsa, it morphed into Grand Pabbie.

“It is good to see you Elsa, but given your condition I am afraid I cannot permit you to come any closer to the valley for the safety of the others,” said Grand Pabbie in his slow, deep voice.

“Yes I was wondering if there was anything you could do about this condition, if you can see her,” Elsa gestured to where her doppelganger was standing.

“I can see the creature. We know from ancient knowledge that their kind are parasites to magic users. Elsa, you must be strong to prevent it from shaping your thoughts and controlling your actions. I wish to be of more help but as of now I don’t have anything else to offer.”

“I think it was contained in a mirror before it found its way to me.”

Grand Pabbie looked even more concerned. “To have binded the creature to a vessel would have required someone very strong in the darker aspects of magic to perform.”

* * *

Elsa was more than halfway back to Arendelle when her bugbear returned. It tried to grab her hands to cast some illicit ice bolts but now that Elsa was conscious of its attempts, she was able to stop herself without much trouble.

**_What are you so afraid of? There is no one around, lets freeze some stuff._ **

“My magic is not a plaything, and definitely not yours.”

**_You still fear your magic, don’t you?_ **

“Look, I don’t know what you know or have heard about me, but the little girl locking herself in her room, afraid of her magic grew up a long time ago.” Elsa paused momentarily as she realised that she had let slip a bit too much truth than she anticipated. Hoping it went unnoticed she continued, “I have learnt to accept myself and my powers.”

**_Accepting and embracing something are two very different things._ **

Elsa had no reply for that. She winced at the thought of losing an argument within her own head.

**_Anyway, looks like we are stuck together for a while yet. And thanks._ **

“What for?” Elsa’s eyebrow arched in puzzlement. She couldn’t think of anything her doppelganger could be thanking her for.

**_For calling me ‘her’. I much prefer that to ‘it’ but I hope we will be on ‘we’ terms soon._ **

“Slip of the tongue, I assure you.”

* * *

Elsa opened her eyes with some difficulty. She remembered from past experience that this was because her eyelids were frosted over. She sat upright, shattering the thin layer of ice on her nightgown and bed, only to realise that her whole room was covered in ice with the odd icicle protruding off the ceilings and walls.

It was the first time since her teens that she had unknowingly unleashed her powers while asleep. As before, she had felt a deep sense of unease of not being in control of herself while she slept. Previously this was also accompanied by fear of her hurting someone accidentally with icy powers. This time though, she knew exactly what she wanted to hurt.

“Damn bitch,” she muttered to herself, pinching the bridge of her nose before waving her hands to disperse the ice. Before she was done, there was a knock on the door.

Anna’s voice came from the other side. “Elsa! Elsa are you up? May I come in?”

“Sure, but mind your step, it’s slippery in here.”

Anna entered the door in her queen’s regalia and surveyed the remaining frost in the room. “Evil twin?”

“Magic parasite, yes,” admitted Elsa as she de-iced the last bit of the room. “Who knows what mischief it can do if it is able to do this while I’m asleep. And the trolls pretty much just said good luck with that, don’t spread it to us.”

“Right, at least I’m safe then? Anyhoo _my_ plan brought some results,” Anna replied with a grin.

“Well?” Elsa knew Anna was purposefully keeping her in suspense.

“First get changed, I’ll wait.”

* * *

“I got a bunch furniture dealers to evaluate the stuff the Weseltonians gave us, and I made sure there were a couple of mirror specialists. And sure enough one of them recognised that magic mirror of yours had designs that were a trademark of a place called Auradon,” Anna explained as she led her sister down a flight of stairs.

“Auradon,” Elsa repeated, raking her brains of any previous mention of it. “It was a small kingdom that Weselton annexed sometime in the last century?”

“Yes that is the one,” Anna confirmed as they reached the library. Inside, the usually quiet library were about a dozen well dressed people looking busy.

“And this is where things get interesting. All the librarians have found are mentions of Auradon in books on the more recent Weseltonian history. And there hasn’t been much there since the annexation, little trade, farming and industry. We should have some books specifically on Auradonian history. They appear in our book records but they are not in the library. At least not in the section they are supposed to be in.”

They reached a row of dusty history books where a conspicuous gap indicated three or four missing volumes.

“Here we are.” Anna spun around to face her sister. “Do the magic. I know this isn’t the sea but no harm trying.”

Elsa closed her eyes are stretched her hands, but Anna was right, there wasn’t enough water in the dry, dusty library for anything approaching a coherent water memory to form.

“I don’t suppose the town library possess a copy?” Elsa asked, although she was sure both of them knew the likely answer.

“We sent a runner but no one is holding their breath. Question now is who took these books away and for what reason? It is a pretty serious crime to rob the royal library. Or you know the castle in general.”

“Looks like I need to pay another visit to Ahtohallan.”


	5. Chapter 5

The ride back up to the village in Northuldra took longer than Elsa had gotten used to, because Nokk was about as unhappy as she was when her doppelganger reappeared. Nokk displayed its unhappiness by slowing down to a trot and prancing unexpectedly, almost throwing Elsa off. Plus there was the cargo it was carrying.

Just outside the village, Ryder, riding a reindeer, pulled up beside her.

“Hey! Are those reparations from the Prospector’s Guild?” Ryder asked, motioning to the wooden rowboat, aboard a magical icy sled that Nokk was pulling. “We don’t have that much use for boats around here.”

“Uh no… It totally slipped my mind, I am so sorry,” a wide eyed Elsa apologised, mentally kicking herself for forgetting to mention the situation with Anna. “We’ve had a very interesting couple of days back down in Arendelle. Grab your sister and meet me at Yelena’s tent, I’m afraid we have much to discuss.”

* * *

“You froze the last time you went that deep into Ahtohallan,” pointed out a concerned Honeymaren. The four of them were sitting in a circle in the meeting area of Yelena’s tent.

“I’ll be more careful this time, I’ll stop when the cold begins to bother me. And as an additional precaution, I would like to ask the two of you to accompany me.” She left out the part that Anna insisted that she didn’t go in alone. To Yelena, she said, “If you have no objections of course.”

“To drag your frozen corpse out?” a red cheeked Honeymaren shot back. “That is why you brought the wooden boat right? Because your magic would disappear if you die!”

Guiltily Elsa replied, “No, it is so that you two will not be stranded at Ahtohallan if I don’t make it back out.” Firmly she added, “I don’t want either of you to risk your lives to come in after me. I already lost my parents to sea and I’m not about add the two of you to that list.”

“There must be some other way,” protested Honeymaren. “We’ll keep you safe and others safe from you until we find it.”

“I spent thirteen years trying that remember?” Honeymaren raised a hand in apology.

“Why do you need us there if you don’t want us to come after you?” Ryder asked.

“In case I am somewhere between walking and dead.” Elsa’s eyes went to the black haired figure in dark blue dress observing them. When their eyes met, it gave her a wink and a wicked grin.

* * *

At dinner Elsa noticed that Gale and Burni also seemed uncomfortable around her, keeping some distance away when they previously would be coming close to play. Elsa couldn’t blame them, but she still made some snow piles for Burni to cool off in, which to her relief Burni accepted. Once they had their dinner it was time to leave.

Nokk was still happy enough to drag the rowboat and its three occupants through the night up to the coast. The Dark Sea between Northuldra and Ahtohallan was relatively calm, a far cry from the giant waves Elsa faced when she first made the crossing. Soon the peaks of Ahtohallan became visible on the dawn horizon. The siblings stood on the prow of their boat, eyes and mouth wide open in amazement. Elsa was at the stern with her doppelganger also peering out the side of the ship with a look that Elsa felt most approximated childish wonder and curiosity.

“It’s beautiful!” exclaimed Honeymaren.

“To think it was just here all this while, so close yet so far away,” added Ryder.

“It looks better at night,” quipped Elsa, and she described how the ice glowed warmly in the dark that night a few months ago.

“Are you sure it is okay for us to go in?” asked Honeymaren.

“Honestly I’m not so sure, but as the Fifth Spirit, I would expect to have twenty percent say in the matter!” said Elsa which earned her amused sigh from Honeymaren.

Nokk deposited them and their boat on the icy shore before running off at full gallop.

“I hope Nokk comes back when you call, it will be a long row back otherwise,” Ryder said as he watched Nokk becoming ever smaller in the distance.

“I’m sure it’ll come if we need him. Anyway let’s move the stuff off the boat and eat something before going in.”

They sat together ate in silence for a few minutes, contemplating what awaited them in the nearby cave when Elsa sat upright and took a careful look around.

“Alright it’s gone, let’s move!” Elsa got to her feet, grabbing a coil of rope.

“Aww man, I should have eaten my favourite part first,” complained Ryder as he abandoned the remainder of his breakfast and picked up a torch.

* * *

They hurried down the icy cavern. It was much darker than Elsa had remembered. Where once the blue glow of the ice wall had been warm and welcoming, now it was foreboding and distant. They had to rely on torches and Elsa’s powers to see where they were going.

Elsa sings her call to the Ahtohallan but the only reply she gets are a pair of slowly moving faint lights that show her a different tunnel at the junction. She decides to follow where the spirits lead her. Honeymaren is close behind her and a little further back, Ryder marks the cavern leading back to the outside. Elsa occasionally looks at the reflective walls around her as they walked, checking that she only had one reflection.

As they emerged out of the tunnel, they found a dark ravine ahead of them. Elsa sings out to Ahothallan but the cavern they are in remains pitch black, save for Elsa’s own magic and torch light. With a swing of her arm, Elsa launches an ice bolt towards the cavern ceiling, bathing the cavern in an eerie, blue light as it explodes in mid-air. Fierce, jagged and ugly looking icicles cast shadows on almost all parts of the wall and ceiling. She manages to spot a ledge with a tunnel exit that according to her mental map should lead her to the memory chamber. Using her magic she creates a simple set of descending steps to bridge the gap.

They secure one end of the rope to some rocks near the exit before making their way across the bridge. Fortunately the rope was long enough to span the gap with a couple of feet to spare. Elsa notices that both Ryder and Honeymaren’s breath was now visible in icy puffs of condensation.

“Are you cold?” she askes.

“We are fine and we are staying with you,” Honeymaren replied through gritted teeth. She had barely finished the sentence when her teeth started clattering uncontrollably. Defiant she held Elsa’s gaze and hugged herself for warmth.

Elsa looked and saw that Ryder was faring no better.

“Please go back to the other end and stay warm,” Elsa said as calmly and warmly as possible.

“No Elsa, we are sta-staying with you,” Honeymaren replied. Elsa stepped closer and embraced her tightly.

“I hurt Anna by taking away her decision to follow me here, please make the decision to wait here yourself.”

Honeymaren stubbornly clung on to Elsa, allowing Elsa to be able to feel her shivering getting worse.

“Ryder please take your sister back up the stairs.”

“Come on sis, let’s go.” Ryder slowly pulls the two women apart and leads his sister back up the steps.

“If you die, I’ll never forgive you,” called Honeymaren as she took a step on the ice bridge.

“Don’t worry, I won’t forgive myself either,” whispered Elsa in reply as she turned and entered the dark passage.

* * *

The next cavern had collapsed ice columns blocking her way; those Elsa easily made upright with relatively effortless movements of her hands. The rockfall that blocked the exit took a little more work. Elsa had to coat the rocks with ice before being able to move them slowly, careful to maintain the integrity of the ice lest the ice shatter and the rocks fall.

The next room was the memory chamber, its obsidian floor as dark and gleaming as she remembered. Her footsteps echoed loudly in the on the empty floor. There were was nothing and no voices present this time. Elsa felt more alone than she had ever had in years.

“I need to know what this creature in my head is and what it wants,” Elsa asks the dark cave.

For a long while there was nothing. And then a warm, inviting glow of yellow light from the pit in the centre of the cavern slowly got brighter. Elsa took a firm step towards the light before stopping herself. She remembered very well what happened the last time she had descended that deep. She shook her head in resignation. Maybe another question would be answered instead.

“Who took the missing books and why?”

Firstly Elsa noticed the glowing yellow light from the pit beginning to fade, then the mountain responded. The roof of the cavern started glowing and Elsa looked up expectantly, seeing moving images of previous moments of her life flashing all around.

“She is old enough to understand.” Elsa turned back to the source of the familiar voice.

Elsa saw ice versions her parents, exactly as she had last remembered them, her father in his uniform and her mother in her dress. They were walking down the one of the Arendelle castle’s staircases.

“Elsa is a practically woman now,” her mother continued. “She also has the right to know what she could soon be facing.”

King Agarr turned to look at his wife and took her hands in his. He was holding one of the missing books.

“There is nothing more that I want to do than to tell Elsa what we know, but she is too afraid as it is.” Elsa winced at the lack of confidence her father had in her, but she knew he was right. Back then she was a scared little girl.

“Maybe we can something from Ahtohallan that can help,” he added with a hopeful smile that his wife returned with a more nervous one. His hope appeared genuine to Elsa and she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

Her parents continued walking down the stairs where they were met a younger Elsa. The younger Elsa curtsied and worriedly asked, “Do you have to go?”

“You’ll be fine, Elsa.”

_More secrets_ Elsa thought ruefully to herself as she started to give her younger self a hug, but that just made the illusion shatter. She walked to the next illusion, of King Runeard sitting at a desk with the Auradon history books, making his own notes and muttering angrily to himself. Other illusions were of one or both her parents at that same desk looking very concerned while reading the same books.

“What is so bad in those books?” Elsa asked the cavern.

All the illusions disappear, and in their place there is a festive, jovial scene in a palace’s great hall. It reminds Elsa of her coronation as Queen of Arendelle, but with even more people. She studied the diorama. At the far end were a middle aged couple on a pair of thrones, Elsa presumed they must be the last King and Queen of Auradon. Four columns of long tables stretch the length of the great hall, noblemen and women close to the king while the more common folk were nearer to the doors. A royal party. There was happiness and excitement abound, so much so that Elsa could empathetically feel their emotions.

Then there was some commotion at the door as a robed figure entered the hall. People were jeering and shouting. Undeterred the robed figure continued walking further in, staff in hand. The figure’s hood had fallen to reveal a pair of spiral horns underneath. Suddenly some unseen force cut down those closest to the figure. The crowd ran for back for the doors, but more unseen magic cut many down. Guards tried to step forward but many didn’t even live long enough to draw swords or raise bows. By now some men and women had reached the doors but are apparently unable to open them, instead they were banging desperately against the unyielding doors. Their fear was palpable and Elsa shivered in response. They were still cut down all the same.

“I will not allow this to happen to Arendelle,” declared Elsa in a shaky voice. 

The king and queen lay slumped on their thrones; their bodyguards lying in a heap in front of them. Among the broken bodies, a young, beautiful woman wearing a tiara cradled a charming looking man. As the robed figure approached, the princess took her companion’s sword and confronted the intruder. Elsa realised with a start that she too must have had some powers to be able to survive the carnage.

Suddenly the illusions crumbled to the obsidian floor. A low rumbling shook the entire cavern. Loose rocks fell from the ceiling and cracked the floor when they crashed into it. Elsa turned to run for the exit when she noticed one figure still remaining standing. A figure in a dark blue dress and jet black hair.

Elsa blasted her doppelganger with her icy magic. It seemed genuinely surprised at the ice bolts knocked it down.

**_But how?_ **

“I figured that there was chance all the magic here might be enough to make you manifest yourself,” Elsa replied and she used her powers to trap her doppelganger in an oeversized ice cube. It banged its hand angrily against its new prison.

**_Let me out!_ **

“No, now you answer my questions,” said Elsa, ignoring the rocks that continued to fall around her.

“Did the Duke send you? What are you supposed to do to me?”

**_I don’t know any Duke, nobody sent me._ **

“Liar!” screamed Elsa, pointing an accusing finger at her prisoner. “You mean to tell me that you just happened to be in that mirror?”

**_I don’t remember how I got trapped in the mirror and when you were nearby I was able to escape to you!_ **

Before Elsa could form her next question, she suddenly felt an unfamiliar chill in her body. It was time to go. Elsa turned from her quarry and started to head to the exit as fast as her quickly numbing feet could allow.

**_No! Please don’t leave me! I don’t want to be trapped alone in the dark!_ **

Memories of her own childhood being alone in her room forced Elsa to stop and turn around. Here doppelganger’s narrow and predatory eyes were now wide and pleading.

**_Don’t go!_ **

“I’ll come back and check on you when this is over,” Elsa offered as she turned back towards the cavern exit. She could feel her legs becoming increasingly numb and stumbled out into the next passage. She placed her hand on her thigh, using her own magic against that which was slowing freezing her.

But what Ahtohallan gives, Ahtohallan can also take away. Elsa could feel herself losing the battle as her legs got more and more stiff. Before her, she saw the icy stairs she made earlier begin to crack, collapse and dissipate. The rocks falling from the ceiling increase in size and frequency.

“Elsa! Grab the rope,” Honeymaren shouts from the upper ledge. “Come on!”

Elsa tries, but her fingers are already too numb to hold on properly. Suddenly long, pale and black nailed fingers wrap around her hand, her doppelganger has escaped. Elsa looks wearily and its familiar but different face. She had no more energy to fight.

“Don’t give up Elsa! We are right here,” Honeymaren pleads.

**_Hold on!_ **

The doppelganger launches both of them off the ledge, and with its hands over Elsa’s, keeps the grip on the rope as they swing to the opposite ledge.

“Pull, Ryder! Pull!”

“Why are you helping me,” Elsa asks in a whisper.

**_Because if you die, I'll die too._ **

The siblings manage to pull Elsa up and each take one of her arms over their shoulder. The outer caverns are thankfully still solid and they soon reach sunlight where all three collapse in exhaustion. Elsa begins to feel the warmth return to her body and throws a big group hug.

“Thank you, thank you,” she weeps. She would have thanked her doppelganger too but it was nowhere to be seen.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying my hand writing a bit of fluff, please bear with me!

Anna was waiting for her when she arrived at Arendelle castle’s main door. Elsa dismounted Nokk and took her sister in a loving embrace as tears streamed down both sisters’ cheeks.

“When Olaf came into my office saying he wasn’t feeling good I thought I lost you again,” Anna whispered into her sister’s ear.

“I almost was,” Elsa replied softly. “How much time do we have?”

“My next meeting started five minutes ago. Did you get rid of the thing in your head? Find out anything about Auradon?”

“I haven’t seen it since I left Ahtollahan, but I don’t think it’s completely gone. I’ll tell you about Auradon later, and I think I know where the missing books are too.”

“That’s great news! Looks like we both have less on our minds now.”

Anna chuckled at her own pun which earned her a smile and a shake of Elsa’s head. They broke their embrace. Elsa helped wipe the tear streaks from Anna’s face so that she will be presentable for her meeting.

“Well, gotta go, Queen stuff to do. See you in the evening.”

* * *

Elsa had decided that the table in the Ahtollahan illusions should be one of her grandfather’s study tables. So she started her search in the guestroom that used to be King Runeard’s study. The table in that room was not the correct one, so she asked Kai if he knew where the old study tables could be at. They search for a few possible candidates in various rooms before Elsa recognised the correct table in a furniture storeroom, one that also held the castle’s newest furniture, curtsey of Weselton. Elsa checked the drawers but found them empty. She then tried knocking the sides and sure enough, there was a hollow section underneath. A bit of experimentation revealed the missing library books and a notebook. Elsa brought a nearby chair closer and started reading. That was how Anna found Elsa a few hours later.

“What have you found out?” asked Anna, her hair already let down now that the workday was done.

Looking up from the desk, Elsa replied, “Long story short, Princess Aurora was rumoured to have some magic. Then a sorceress attacked Aurodon on the Princess Aurora’s birthday and coming of age party. Lots of people died and the royal family was wiped out. Grandfather read about it later and according to his notes, it was one of the causes for his hatred of magic. “

Elsa flipped the notebook to the later pages, “Years later, Papa and Mama found these books. They were afraid that the trigger for the sorceress’s attack was because it was Aurora’s nineteenth birthday. That is why they went to the Dark Sea. And that is why they didn’t turn back when the weather got bad. They thought it was the last chance to save me and Arendelle from a similar fate.”

“My nineteenth came and went. We’ve celebrated six more birthdays since then and we’re all still here. They died chasing a deadline that didn’t exist.” She stood up and slammed the table, making frost spread outwards on the floor, walls and miscellaneous stored furniture.

At one time Anna might have flinched or at Elsa unleashing her powers so emotionally, but no longer. She walked around the table and gave her sister a comforting hug.

“It wasn’t your fault.” And for good measure Anna added, “You’ve already used your powers to free Northuldra and save Arendelle.”

“I know, but it still...”

They held each other for a few moments until a soft growl from Anna’s stomach interrupts their tender moment and the sisters break out into giggles.

“Let’s go get dinner and you can tell me what happened up north,” Anna said walking to the door.

As Elsa walked after her sister, she waved her hands to dissipate the ice in the room. They both heard a loud sound of glass cracking and turned to look at the source. The ornate, full length standing mirror in an ivory frame had cracks appearing all over the reflective surface, getting louder and louder as the cracks branched out and met each other.

“Huh, looks like Auradonian mirrors don’t take to cold too well,” commented Anna.

Elsa stared wide eyed as the cracks joined up. Her mouth began to open to shout a warning.

“ANN-“

The whole mirror shattered, sending fragments of glass outwards at unnaturally high speeds. With one hand Elsa raised an ice barrier for herself and with the other, another barrier for her sister. Elsa could see the mirror fragments somehow continuing to accelerate as they got closer and, despite her best efforts, she could neither close her eyes nor look away. All she could do was to follow the aguishly slow growth of her personal ice wall at it emerged from the frosty floor.

Mirror fragments embedded themselves in Elsa’s ice with hail like impacts, creating dark shadows in Elsa’s otherwise clear ice. The ice wall barely reached eye level in time to intercept the fragments inches from her open eyes. Now that the immediate danger had passed, Elsa was finally able to close her eyes and let out a sigh of relief.

_That was way too close._

She turned back to Anna, and to her horror noticed that her sister was squirming on the floor with her hands over her eyes.

* * *

Elsa ran to Anna’s side and knelt down beside her. Elsa could see that her eyes were wide open through the gaps between her fingers covering her face

“Are you alright?” Elsa asked, checking for any injuries. No blood, no torn clothes, everything seems to be in order. Elsa took Anna’s hand and tried to pull her back to her feet.

“Don’t touch me,” Anna hissed, pulling her hand back.

“Oh I’m sorry, did it hurt?”

Anna sat up and looked at Elsa with a very serious looking expression that Elsa hasn’t seen before. Elsa’s best guess is a mix of anger, frustration and disgust.

“Anna, are you okay?” Elsa asked again, increasingly concerned.

“You can’t help but hurt people around you, can you?” Anna said in a venomous tone, rising shakily to her feet. Shocked, Elsa took a step back.

“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone! Especially not you!”

“But it keeps happening doesn’t it? Especially to me,” Anna shot back. Pointing to the ice wall that failed to protect her, she continues, “Things always work out better for you while poor old unpowered Anna has to pay the price.”

“That ice wall is me trying to protect you. Anna ple-”

“Trying to protect me? You just push me away everytime things get hard! You’ve shot me in the head! You’ve frozen my heart!”

“Anna you’re not being yourself, please calm down,” Elsa said in the most soothing tone she can.

“Oh no, this is perfectly me. I am the one who always suffered the most. Thirteen years of being ignored. Thirteen years! I almost died going up the North Mountain looking for you. I did die protecting you.” Anna paced around, hands wildly gesturing and pointing accusing fingers at Elsa..

“You made me destroy Arendelle. Do you have any idea how hard that was? You made me destroy my home!”

“But you didn’t! We saved it, and we freed Northuldra too!” Elsa put on a brave smile and extended conciliatory hands to Anna.

“Arendelle was only in danger because _you_ woke the spirits up. People keep suffering because of your powers. Mama and Papa died because of you. All those people died from cold from _your_ eternal winter. _I_ died because of you. Not Hans, you! You _killed_ me!”

“Anna no…” Elsa mumbled, tears coming to her eyes as she realised that everything Anna was saying was true. “All I wanted was to keep you safe.”

“Grand Pabbie warned me that you could be consumed by your powers. It has only gotten worse after you found out you were the Fifth Spirit. I can see it so clearly now. You just don’t care about what your powers do to the rest of us,” Anna continued, hands on both her temples. “We are nothing to you. That’s why it was so easy for you to shut everyone out. You never really cared about the rest of us at all!”

Anna drew the dagger at her belt.

“It is so clear. You are a danger and as Queen it is my duty to protect my kingdom from you.”

“Anna, put down the dagger and let’s talk about this,” Elsa said as she backed away slowly. She saw in Anna’s eyes a cold determination that scared her.

“There must have been some spell in the mirror, fight it Anna! I believe in you.”

“Believe in this,” snarls Anna as she plunged her dagger into Elsa’s abdomen to the hilt.

Elsa let out a painful gasp. Scarlet blood drained from the wound and made a striking contrast against her white dress. Anna pulled out the dagger for a second strike as Elsa stumbled back against a cupboard, clutching her wound in pain.

 ** _Freeze her!_** A dark haired blue dressed figure took one of Elsa’s bloody hands and shot an ice bolt. Elsa is barely able to react in time, moving her hand enough so that the ice bolt goes wide as Anna advances closer.

”I’m not hurting my sister anymore,” Elsa declared firmly despite the debilitating pain in her gut.

“Why not? You’ve been hurting me my whole life. _Go away Anna! Freeze to death on the mountain for me Anna! Take a sword for me Anna! Destroy Arendelle for me Anna! Hold Olaf while he died for me Anna!_ ” Anna made a mocking imitation of Elsa’s voice. Her dagger left arcs of Elsa’s blood on the floor as Anna closed the distance, unfazed by the ice bolt.

Anna grabbed hold of Elsa’s shoulder with her free hand and pulled back her dagger for the killing blow. Elsa tried to struggle free but Anna’s grip is too tight and she is blocked from retreating further by furniture.

 ** _She is going to kill us! Freeze her!_** Elsa refuses, shaking her head and tightly holding on to her own waist so that she is not able to defend herself.

“I’m sorry for everything Anna. I love you,” Elsa whimpered and closes her eyes, tears streaking down her face as Anna’s dagger closed in on her heart.

Maybe Elsa’s act of love broke the spell or maybe Anna managed to overcome the spell or maybe the spell just wore off. In any case the dagger stopped short of plunging into Elsa’s chest. Anna stared wide eyed at her own bloody hand in horror and confusion.

“Elsa no,no, no! What have I done?” Anna dropped her bloody dagger and let go of Elsa’s shoulder, who then wobbled and crumpled to the floor. Anna is too stunned to catch her and she falls heavily, knocking her head against a table on the way down.

Elsa’s last vision before she lost consciousness is of her sister crying for help and her doppelganger looking down at her with disapproval.

**_Weak._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just giving another (better) reason for Adgarr and Iduna to hide Elsa and some urgency for their risky journey. After all they must know that dying would leave Elsa even worse off. 
> 
> The mirror spell is inspired by how it worked in Once Upon A Time.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, here is a long chapter for your patience!

Kristoff found her weeping on the floor in a guest bathroom, still in her blood stained dress.

“Elsa’s blood… I… I can’t get the blood off,” wailed Anna, showing him her bloody hands. Kristoff noticed she had been scrubbing so hard that some of the blood was her own.

Kristoff knelt down and held the love of his life as tightly as he could.

Somehow Anna found the resilience to look mostly presentable when they met the Royal Physician as he left Elsa’s room. In a clean dress and holding Kristoff’s hand tightly, they entered the candlelit room. Elsa looked to be resting peacefully on the bed and the lack of soiled bandages scattered haphazardly around looked like a good sign to Anna.

“The Princess’s wounds have stopped bleeding and already appear to be healing. Perhaps her powers also offer her some restorative abilities,” the greying doctor reported to Anna as he was returned his equipment into his bag. “I am a happy to report no signs of fever or infection. I expect her to wake up tomorrow morning with little more than a headache and she should be up and about a couple of days after that.” He tactfully didn’t ask about how she got her wounds or if Anna needed any medical attention.

“Thank you very much doctor,” said Anna. Kristoff gave the doctor a nod as well before closing the door as the doctor left the room.

Now with only her fiancé in the room, Anna could let down her guard. She rushed to her sister’s side, took one of Elsa’s hands in hers and with her free hand, she brushed back platinum blonde hair. Anna noticed that the gash on Elsa’s head looked like it was a day old instead of the hour it was.

“I’m so so sorry Elsa. I didn’t mean what I said. Please wake up soon,” Anna said in hushed tones.

Kristoff took a step closer and put his arm on Anna’s shoulder.

“What happened?” Kristoff probed. He felt Anna tense up underneath his hand.

“It was that mirror from Weselton. It shattered when Elsa hit it with her magic. Pieces of it hit me. Then suddenly I felt so angry. I said some really cruel things. I couldn't control myself. I… I stabbed Elsa,” Anna shuddered at the fresh memory, letting her tears stream freely. “It was like I was just there for the ride until I felt my dagger deep in her body. But by then the damage had already been done.”

Kristoff was silent for a while, thinking carefully about what to say next. He needed Anna to be strong for whatever that was coming next.

“It wasn’t your fault. In fact you managed to break the spell before Elsa got seriously hurt. You faced the Duke’s magic and prevailed.”

“I still almost killed her. Prevailed might be too strong a word,” replied Anna, barely looking up.

“Imagine if we destroyed the mirror at the bridge and the spell afflicted our army as well. It would have been a bloodbath. A _Trojan Horse_.” He stressed the last couple of words to show that he had indeed remembered something from his Greek literature classes.

He was rewarded by a weak smile that faded too quickly for his liking. More silence followed, except for Anna’s sniffles. She then let out a long sigh.

“Now we just need to figure out what to tell everyone else and what our next step is,” said Anna, determination returning to her voice.

* * *

“The Snow Queen is in the castle too. That is not part of the plan,” Loken said as he returned from the final scouting mission, closing the door to the inn room he was sharing with his team behind him.

“The timetable was quite clear, we have to go tonight,” Sergeant Gabriel of the Black Company replied.

“What about Elsa then? It’s just four of us and we are the only magic we expected to fight is their snowman familiar,” Torg briefly paused from adjusting his crossbow to speak.

“We’ll just need to get the most out this then,” said Loken, rubbing the smooth, fist sized grey rock attached to his leather chest armour. There was a light blue rune engraved in the middle of it.

“Besides, I’m not hearing any of you objecting to splitting the Snow Queen’s bounty just between us.”

“We’re going to be rich,” Torg declared with an anticipatory grin.

* * *

“An assassination attempt and _you_ were the assailant,” repeated Genaral Mattias to the small gathering of Arendelle’s most senior civil and military leaders. It was a small enough group to fit comfortably in one of the palace’s drawing rooms.

“Yes. Weselton must also have some people here in Arendelle to see whether we did kill each other and have plan ready to be implemented after the fact. I want the town guard to be increased and all arrivals from Weselton, especially those since the trade agreement with the Duke, to be double checked,” instructed Anna.

“Grand Duke now,” reminded the Prime Minister, and elderly greying statesman. As Duke of his country’s namesake province, he had always been first among equals, and now managed to move himself up a tier. “Are considering war?” he asked.

“Unfortunately I’d imagine a spell from a magic mirror would be hard to prove to our allies, even to the ones more willing to help us out,” observed the Foreign Minister, an elegant middle aged lady. That section of the castle was also quarantined lest the bloodlust claimed more victims.

“Tomorrow we’ll gather the ambassadors and tell them there was an attempt on my sister’s life as well as my own and that Weselton is the primary suspect. They will ask for evidence and we will say we are still investigating. We’ll try to get a read from them and what they think their nations will do about it.”

“This is why it is imperative that we find any informants or networks Weselton may have here. We may not be able to prove the magical plot but the actual conspirators in Arendelle would be pretty convincing,” added Kristoff, by Anna’s side as always.

“Risky to count the chickens before they hatch, but I think it is the best way to play our current hand,” said the Foreign Minister with a frown. For the benefit of the others in the room she continued, “Queen Anna and myself have already been meeting with several ambassadors regarding the border incident this past week. I can think of a couple of countries who would be inclined to support us against Weselton.”

“So we are preparing for war then?” asked the Prime Minister again.

“Not quite yet,” answered Anna. To General Mattias she said, “but I want preparations done so that in case we do decide mobilise, we will be able to immediately.”

“I’ll make the arrangements,” General Mattias assured.

“Good. Let’s adjourn for the night,” said Anna wrapping things up and leaving the room with Kristoff.

Once they were a few room lengths away Anna confided to Kristoff, “What a horrible day. I nearly killed Elsa and now I’m just one step away from bringing Arendelle to war. Let’s check on Elsa then I need a drink.”

* * *

Torg’s bolt hit its mark, the sentry scarcely making a sound as she crumpled to the battlement. On the opposite wall of the courtyard, the other half of his team was silently eliminating the patrolling guards before scaling up the main building. They couldn’t risk being spotted during the climb up or outside their target's windows. Loken had briefed them all on which room he spotted Elsa being moved into and every member of the team knew which room was Anna's.

“I’ll face her alone,” Gabriel had declared.

“You want to face the ice witch alone?” Loken had asked. Questioning senior officers in the Black Company was usually not tolerated but Gabriel felt that, in this case, he would allow it.

“Firstly, we only have one protection rune, so anyone else would just be on the receiving end of an ice spike. Secondly capturing is much harder than killing. Thirdly, she already appears to be hurt.”

* * *

**_ELSA! WAKE UP!_ **

Elsa blinked her eyes. Her vision was blurry and she felt pain in her gut. Trying to get her bearings she felt the softness of the mattress of her palace bed, much more comfortable than the rolls she had at Northuldra. In the candlelight she recognised the wallpaper of her old room.

_Ok, I am in Arendelle… What does this harpy want now?_

**_They are here to kill us!_** her doppelganger screamed at her and pointed at the window. Elsa’s groggy mind registered that it was night outside.

_Wait, wasn’t I in the library? I got stabbed… Oh no, where is Anna? Did I hurt her?!_

She turned her head looked at the twisted reflection of her own face with accusing eyes.

“If you made me hurt Anna, I _will_ make you pay.”

**_Fine! But you need to be alive to do that._ **

Breaking glass got her attention as a hooded figure came through the window, the crossbow in his had quickly raised in a fluid motion. Elsa brought her hands to her face and quickly encased her arms in ice, but her quickly formed protection wasn’t sufficient and the bolt broke through the thin ice. Fortunately the ice did change the bolt’s trajectory and it grazed her arm instead of piercing her heart.

“That would have been too easy, wouldn’t it, witch?” Gabriel said menacingly as he drew a dagger and pounced onto Elsa. Elsa threw her hands out, intending to freeze her assailant in mid-flight.

Nothing happened.

Gabriel landed on her waist, shooting agonising pain as Elsa felt her wound reopen. She would have screamed in pain but her mouth only opened soundlessly as her hands desperately prevented Gabriel from plunging the dagger into her chest.

“GUARDS!” she tried to scream but the sound only came out as a barely more than hoarse whimper from the effort of holding back the dagger. She called on her powers again to freeze the man’s hands but again her powers failed her.

“Stop fighting Snow Queen, your powers are useless against me,” Gabriel taunted. “It’ll be over soon.” He leaned even more of his body weight into his blade and smiled smugly at the blade sank ever closer to the fabric of Elsa’s nightgown.

The candlelight reflected off the blade menacingly and Elsa tried once more to summon her powers to freeze something, anything. His hands, the bed, the ceiling, the wall, but everything stayed decidedly ice free. Instead Elsa noticed a faint blue glow on her soon to be murderer’s chest.

With her magical senses she probed the source of the light and felt her magic being absorbed within. Adrenaline pumping in her blood, she tried one final effort.

Elsa shut her eyes tightly into a deep frown. Gabriel took this to mean that she had given up and accepted her inevitable death at his hands. His grin grew wider as his mind wondered to all the money he was about to earn.

An icy cold sensation in his chest jolted him back to the present. This was quickly followed by the shock and confusion as he lost all sensation in his hands. Elsa’s eyes opened and he saw his bewildered reflection in her fierce blue eyes. Next he heard the sound of ice shattering and then realised to his horror that Elsa had crushed his frozen hands, his dagger sliding uselessly off her body and clattering to the floor.

He rolled off her and fell to the floor, scampering for the fallen dagger with the stumps of his hands. Suddenly realising the futility of it he backed away to the window. He saw Elsa get off her bed and turned to face him, her face a grim mask with a fresh bloodstain on her otherwise cream coloured gown. Her appearance made his fear addled mind think of an avenging angel about to deliver judgement. She slowly and deliberately raised a hand, her piercing blue eyes brimming with anger, as though staring into his soul.

“My Queen, please mer-“ 

Gabriel’s plea was cut short by a dozen icicles impaling his body.

* * *

Alcohol did not help. Anna had lost count of how many glasses she had already downed but half a bottle remained on her nightstand. She had half a mind to pour what was left in her current glass over Kristoff to wake him up and share her misery.

 _It’s not his fault I stabbed Elsa, no point punishing him too,_ she decided after a few moments of watching his chest rise and fall in blissful sleep. Anna downed the remaining liquid in her glass and felt a dull buzz, not nearly as strong as she wanted.

 _Plus he’ll be needing the sleep now so he can cover for my hungover brains tomorrow,_ Anna thought as she reached for the bottle and attempted to refill her glass. About half ended up on the bedroom floor. Satisfied with her effort she brought the somewhat refilled cup to her mouth.

Over the rim she spied three darkly clad figures in the room at the end of her bed. Staring blankly at the new arrivals she brought her glass down as two of the figures raised their crossbows at her. Slowly, Anna moved her glass over her sleeping fiancé and nonchalantly tilted its contents over his face.

“Wha- Anna what the…? Ohhh,” said Kristoff as he stirred and saw the uninvited guests.

“Alright Queen, stand up slowly. Any sounds or sudden moves and you’ll need to find a new ice harvester to warm your bed,” commanded Loken in a low but menacing voice.

“Alright, okay I’ll do it, just don’t hurt him,” Anna said.

“Anna, don’t!” Kristoff protested.

“It’s okay. You’ll find me. You’ll save me, like you always do,” reassured Anna with a confidence that was wholly inappropriate given their current circumstances.

Torg and Loken shared a quick, confused look.

“What’s going on?”

“They must be up to something, should I shoot him now?”

“Maybe we should just shoot them both and collect the kill bounty instead,” added their masked companion.

To everyone’s surprise, including Kristoff’s, Anna pulled her fiancé close and gave him a deep, lingering kiss.

 _Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable,_ she thought to herself.

Anna opened her eyes and sure enough saw Kristoff’s big brown eyes staring back. She made a quick sideways movement with her eyes. He raises a questioning eyebrow.

Anna simultaneously threw her glass at Torg, kicked Kristoff off his side of the bed and rolled off hers. Despite her inebriated state, the glass sails close enough to Torg to make him flinch, sending his bolt harmlessly over the bedhead into the wall behind. Another bolt hit the bedhead where Kristoff’s chest had been seconds ago. He barely managed to put the circular top of the nearby nightstand between himself and the third.

Remembering that she had tossed her dagger out one of the windows overlooking the fjord, Anna reached for the next best thing, her half-finished bottle. She swung her improvised weapon at Loken, splashing an arc of alcohol across the room in the process. The bottle connected against Loken’s flank and shattered, but he absorbed the blow with a grunt and retaliated with the stock of his crossbow onto her shoulder, sending Anna face first down to the floor.

Loken was quickly on her back, pinning her hands to the floor with his. Anna frantically tried to kick herself free but the weight on her was too great. She was trapped. She started shrieking.

“Shut her up!” roared Loken, as Torg approached with a rag.

Kristoff was fighting for his life, barely getting his makeshift shield in the path of his assailant’s dagger attacks as he was slowly but surely pushed back and cornered. Dread and helplessness threatened to overwhelm him as he realised couldn’t do anything to help his screaming betrothed.

Torg held the rag to Anna’s face, only slightly muffling her cries. Anna’s vision began to blur and she realised something in the rag was knocking her out.

Suddenly the room doors slammed open and the temperature dropped considerably. Frost enveloped the floor, sending everyone slipping. Anna took advantage and managed to wiggle free as Loken struggled to regain balance on the ice.

A blood splattered Elsa entered the room, confidant footfalls easily finding purchase on the ice. An outstretched hand towards Kristoff’s attacker sent an bright blue bolt to the wall beside him, which upon impact transformed into an icicle straight through his chest.

Elsa now turned to her sister’s attackers who had regained their feet but either out of shock or panic had frozen in place. Each palm sent an ice bolt to an attacker and both men cried in pain as ice speared through their feet, nailing them to the frozen floor.

“You hurt my sister, you suffer the consequences,” snarled Elsa in a voice that wasn’t entirely hers. 

“Elsa… you got them... stop…” Anna croaked, her throat dry, as she crawled towards her sister.

Elsa didn’t respond to her sister. Instead her sneer turned into a wicked grin as she commanded more icicles into Loken and Torg’s limbs. Enough to hurt, a lot, but not enough to kill. The men's screams increased proportionally.

“Elsa, STOP!” Anna repeated more forcefully, before going into a coughing fit.

Elsa startled and paused for a few seconds, appearing to be gathering her thoughts. Taking deep breaths she quickly waved away the ice from the room, sending two moaning bodies and a lifeless corpse to the floor.

The first guards burst into the room, swords and pistols drawn. They stopped when they noticed the carnage in the room and then looked to Anna for instructions.

“Take these two away, we’ll need some answers from them,” commanded Anna as Kristoff helped her back onto her feet. “And someone clean up this mess.”

* * *

They were later patched themselves up in a hastily prepared guest bedroom as their usual ones needed to be cleaned before re-use, especially Elsa's. Anna’s shoulder was bruised but nothing was broken, Kristoff was physically unhurt but the nightstand was a total loss. Elsa’s wound had been redressed and she had cleaned herself up with her ice powers.

“I don’t know what came over me,” Elsa confided as a tear streamed down her cheek. “I should have trapped them in ice and we would have two more people to question instead.” Sitting on the bed beside her, Anna gave her hand a comforting squeeze.

“Your unwelcome guest is back in your head I presume,” Anna ventured. Elsa nodded her head.

“It woke me up before the assassin attacked,” Elsa admitted. She didn’t say that it had disappeared shortly after that. Maybe the enchantment made her disappear too? Elsa could hope.

“I have now deliberately taken two lives with my powers, all because I couldn’t control myself,” Elsa said instead. She squeezed Anna’s hand back and said, “I fear I just made Arendelle’s diplomatic relations a lot more complicated.”

“Hey you saved our lives. I was probably seconds away from being stabbed!” Kristoff tried to reassure. “But how did one guy give you so much trouble if you were awake?” he curiously continued. Anna gave him a frown but didn’t interrupt his question.

Elsa described the rune that had been able to nullify her powers and how she manged to overcome it by channelling her powers into it directly into it until it had absorbed enough of her magic that she could shatter it whole.

“I guess I should be flattered then, they sent three guys for us and only one after you!” Anna said half-jokingly, forcing an awkward laugh, trying to lighten up the mood.

 _She is right, they would have sent more if they wanted to kill me_ , Elsa realised. The sudden silence meant Anna and Kristoff also had similar revelation.

“Has the Prospector’s Guild sent any expeditions up north?” Elsa asked urgently.

“They actually did send a proposal but I wanted to talk it over with you first. Why?” Anna answered with a raised eyebrow. She didn’t like where this was going.

“Ryder recently found some unidentified tracks and an abandoned camp while he was herding.”

“You think it was a scouting party?” asked Kristoff.

“It makes sense. Where would I be right now if today had been normal?”

“Northuldra,” both Anna and Kristoff muttered in unison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember Elsa's disappearing circlet from the bridge? The only time Elsa seemed to taxed when using her powers was when in the scene she was channeling her powers to fight fire so I'm putting this magical defense rune to nerf her a little. Otherwise she could just insta-kill everyone. 
> 
> PDA line is from Captain America : The Winter Soldier (my fav MCU movie)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 27/1/20 - Minor edit at the end

The Nokk raced back up north, leaving an icy trail on the otherwise calm waters of the fjord. Elsa willed her mount to go faster, just as she had willed it in the opposite direction to overtake the giant wave threatening Arendelle less than a year ago.

“You can’t go alone! You’re hurt!” Anna had protested. “Give us some time to organise a force and we’ll ride up together.”

“I can be at the village in an hour, and by then it may already be too late,” said Elsa, ending the conversation by leaving the room.

The sun was just cresting over the horizon, bathing the landscape in orange light when Elsa first saw them. A collection of people wearing furs clustered together, looking dishevelled and directionless. As she got closer, she started noticing more and more Northuldra villagers amongst the trees. They saw her too, and started walking towards her.

What some the villagers do next surprises and unnerves Elsa. They approach her almost reverently with hands reaching out to her and eyes wide with desperation.

“Please I can’t find my children anywhere!”

“I don’t know where my son is…”

“My wife is missing.”

“Spirit please help us!”

Elsa dismounted and made her way through the throng of people; squeezing hands and saying short reassuring words as she did so. She spotted Ryder and made her way towards him.

“What happened here?” Elsa began to ask, before realising that Ryder had was bleeding from his left arm. “What happened to you?”

She put her palm close to the wound and put a numbing layer of frost over it. Ryder grimanced a little from the cold.

“They came after midnight, started shooting, one of the bullets grazed me. We tried to fight back but it was no use, we were totally unprepared. Managed to evacuate most people but in the chaos...”

“Not everyone got out,” Elsa finished for him when it was clear he didn’t have the heart to say it himself. Elsa sighed and rubed her temples. More people dead because of her. She looked around. Honeymaren and Yelena were not among the villagers nearby.

“Maren?” Elsa tentatively asked.

“She was trying to shepherd some of the younger ones to safety when I lost sight of her. I don’t know if she or the others are still alive. Or how long they would be kept alive.”

“How many aren’t here? How many attacked?”

“We are still missing a over fifty people. Hopefully they just ran off in a different direction but many were shot and captured. Maybe a hundred attacked us.” It sounded to Elsa like an appropriate amount of men to send against a sorceress.

“They are here for me, I need to go back for them,” Elsa stated. “You stay and help _our_ people.”

“Screw that! I and everyone else who is able would go back and fight, but we have very few weapons. You can make us some.”

“No one else is getting hurt for me, not if I can help it,” said Elsa firmly.

“Look my sister is still there, and so are many other’s families. We’re not going to sit this one out. And less of us would get hurt if you made us some ice weapons.”

“They attacked the castle earlier, and had something that could counter my magic. It’ll probably neutralise anything I make for you.”

“Isn’t that more reason for us to back you up?” challenged Ryder.

* * *

Elsa recognised the voice coming from the bullhorn. Commander Ezekyle of the Black Company.

“Show yourself Snow Queen! Or we will kill a villager every hour until you do!”

She emerged from the treeline and strode confidently towards the occupied village. Dozens of bodies littered the empty space between her and the village, almost all of them wearing light brown fur. She knew she was spotted when the mercenaries reoriented their lines to face her. Elsa estimated around sixty were in front of her. That left at least a couple dozen in the woods surrounding the village.

“Ah there you are! Why don’t you join us!” the bullhorn mocked. Elsa can see a large, armoured figure she assumes to be Ezekyle standing among Northuldra hostages at the village centre.

The body closest to Elsa had long brown hair and a blood stained shirt. She kneels down to check for breathing. There isn’t any. Elsa recognises the face but can’t put a name to it at the moment. She felt guilt when she realised that she was glad that the body belonged to somebody other than Honeymaren. She gives a comforting pat the body and moved on.

The next body was wearing a worn green Arendellian coat. Elsa recognised him as a member of the Northern Expedition who decided to move back to Northuldra after finding that his original home had changed too much in the three decades of separation.

“My Queen,” he managed to whisper as she kneels beside him.

“Shhh… it’s alright, help is coming,” soothed Elsa as she put a thin layer of frost over his gut wound.

“Don’t go, it’s a trap,” begged the injured man.

“I have to,” said Elsa and she gave the man’s hand a firm squeeze then continued towards the village.

By now the Black Company had organised themselves into two rows, muskets at the ready. Elsa knew that her ice was proof against crossbow bolts, but against this volume of gunfire she couldn’t be sure.

Elsa raised her hands to the morning sky, summoning a small hailstorm over the enemy formation and frosting the open ground between them. However the hail doesn’t reach the mercenaries and her frost dissipated as they advanced closer to her.

Mocking laughter came over the bullhorn. “You are nothing without your magic! Open fire!”

Two dozen musket balls crashed against her ice wall, sending cracks all over the clear ice. The first row of mercenaries knelt and the second fired another volley. This time chips of her ice broke off as the bullets impacted against the weakened. White blue energy flowed for her palms to her ice as she tried repaired the damage.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed more black clad figures emerging from the treeline and raising muskets. Elsa brought her stretched arms to her sides, extending the barrier to protect herself from the new arrivals. Elsa grimaced from the exertion of constantly replenishing her ice as more and more bullets impact against it. Sharp fragments of ice started blowing back off the inside of her wall towards her. One of fragments left a line of blood on her cheek, more cut her exposed arms and another embedded itself into her thigh. Elsa dropped down to into a crouch.

Anticipating the kill, the Black Company advanced closer to their quarry in a semi-circle, stepping over the fallen bodies of the earlier battle as they did. Elsa could see their gleeful expressions through her cracked ice. She tried to see if any of them carried the anti-magic runes and spotted four. They were now close enough that she could feel her ice wall being neutralised by their affect. Her wall will not be able to protect her for much longer. In front of her the soldiers had reloaded and brought their muskets up for the next volley.

Suddenly cries came out from the men as Northuldra emerged from the treeline, gleaming ice swords, shields and spears in hand. They had been noticed too late and the Black Company attempting to flank Elsa were set upon by them. The men in front of her got unnerved and started shooting ineffectively at the vengeful newcomers.

Now facing empty guns, Elsa concentrated as she aimed her channelled magic at the men with the runes. She could feel her magic being absorbed and building up in the rocks, more and more until critical mass was reached. Elsa clenched her fists and the runes shattered.

“ _My turn_ ,” Elsa growled, and the wavering men in front of her stared to feel the first pangs of panic. Without their magical protection, the frantically reloading men are at her mercy. Spikes of gleaming sharp ice erupted from the ground, impaling the whole formation, snuffing out scores of lives in an instant, and left the few survivors screaming in pain. The ease of her action surprised her; she figured she’ll have time to think about it and the emotional ramifications later. For now, Elsa only took care so that none of the prone Northuldra were hit.

One relatively lightly injured mercenary slipped on the ice as he struggled to escape, a puncture wound in his leg. He spun, eventually coming face to face with Elsa as she walked past and stared at her wide brown eyes. Elsa glanced at him too, his black helm had fallen off and she could see the fear in his young features. She decided that he was no longer a threat and spared him any more attention.

 ** _Are you sure that’s a good idea? He can still fight you know._** A voice very similar to her own materialised in her head.

“He isn’t going to attack me anymore. What is it to you?” Elsa replied, continuing towards the village.

**_Really? Look again._ **

Elsa spun on her heel and came face to face with the young soldier attempting to run her through with a bayonet. A flick from her hand and an icicle appeared between them, the man’s own momentum impaling him on Elsa’s ice. Elsa regarded his convulsing body with a frown.

“I let you go, why did you come back?” she asked, the anger in her voice making it almost an accusation.

The gasping and wheezing man was, of course, unable to answer her. Instead his eyes remained wide and locked on hers. In a way, he did answer her question with his eyes. They were full of fear.

Elsa remembered Grand Pabbie’s words to her family on that fateful night sixteen years ago.

_“But also great danger… Fear will be your enemy.”_

Elsa thought about what vague and inappropriate-for-an-eight year old prophecy the troll told them, and figured that by every right the experience and subsequent isolation should have left her a much less well-adjusted person. Another thing Anna had saved her from.

A musket ball whizzing past nearby broke her reverie. One of Ezekyle’s bodyguards had fired his pistol from too great a range and missed. She was now close enough to see that bound and gagged woman Ezekyle had picked up and was using as human shield was Honeymaren. His other three bodyguards closed the distance, aimed their pistols and fired. Elsa responded with another barrier that caught the bullets and shot out icy blasts from her palms in retaliation. The magic travelled halfway towards its targets before fizzing out mid-air.

_Of course he kept more runes for himself._

Elsa tried the same method to destroy the runes again, but the bodyguards have drawn swords and charged towards her, making focusing on moving runes much more difficult. So she focused her attention on the closest attacker and after a few moments managed to shatter the rune, making him stumble from the pain of the rune shattering in his chest. She repeated this with her next too assailants, but the fourth man was now close enough to swing his sword.

Elsa barely managed to pull back her arm in time to prevent it from getting cut off. She had to jump backwards to avoid the follow on attack. All she needed was less than ten seconds of focus to destroy the last rune and be able to use her magic again, but she knew that she would be killed if she stopped moving for that long. So she turned around and started running away.

The blade slashed across Elsa’s back but she managed to stay on her feet, ducking behind her last ice wall for the little cover it provided. The ice wall was quickly shrinking, as the remaining rune absorbed the magic.

Just Elsa had hoped. With a flick of her wrist she shattered the rune and a second gesture impaled the four bodyguards, their swords falling to the ground from lifeless hands.

She stayed in a crouch, for the feeling exhausted. She isn’t sure if it from exertion from using her powers or her increasing number of wounds or the cumulative stresses her mind and body had been subject to the past couple of days. Gathering her strength after a few deep breaths Elsa was back on her feet and walking quickly towards the village. She picked up one of the dropped swords, before realising that the sword she had chosen had a thin line of her own blood on it. Holding the weapon gave her an easier focus point to channel her magic and the blade was soon covered in glinting white frost.

“Stay back or I’ll shoot her!” Ezekyle’s previous bravado had completely evaporated as he threatened Honeymaren with a pistol to her head. Honeymaren looked at Elsa with wide eyes, but with little fear. She tugged at her bindings to show Elsa that she managed to loosen them. Elsa smirked in response.

An ice barrier grew in front of Elsa and she pushed it in front of her with her free hand. Its appearance had the desired effect, the Black Company commander briefly pointed his pistol away from Honeymaren’s head, trying to aim around the block of ice. Taking the opening, Honeymaren ducked under Ezekyle’s arm, pivoted around his side to his back and brought her wrists around his neck, so that her bindings found the gap between his helm and gorget and pulled down with all her might.

“Maren! Get back!” Elsa shouted, the risk of impaling both of them was too high. 

Ezekyle and Honeymaren struggled, Honeymaren grunting from the effort of choking him, either not hearing or ignoring Elsa’s warning, before he used his greater weight to crash the both of them into a nearby tent, collapsing the structure on top of them. A single gunshot rang out and the struggling ceased for a few tense moments, before Honeymaren emerged.

Elsa gasped in relief. “Honeymaren!”

Sword dropped and forgotten, she ran forward to take Honeymaren into her arms. Relief turned into panic as Honeymaren stumbled and collapsed onto her side. Elsa then saw that Honeymaren was bleeding from a gunshot wound to her chest.

“Oh no! No no no no!” Elsa rushed forward to the other woman’s side. Taking one hand in hers she used her ice to seal the wound, despite knowing full well that the damage had already been inflicted.

Elsa spied Ezekyle reloading his pistol amongst the ruined tent. Pointing a palm towards him she sent her magic into and shattered the rune by fisting her hand, earning a pained yelp. She then sent ice spikes into his thighs, pinning him to the ground, and into his arms, causing him to drop his pistol. Ezekyle cried out in pain.

Honeymaren tightened her grip on the hand she is holding. Despite the pain she herself was in and knowing that she had little time left, the concern in her eyes were for Elsa.

“Dying in your arms was always how I wanted to go, I just planned on spending a lot more time together first,” Honeymaren whispered weakly, a line of blood streaming from the edge of her mouth.

“Don’t say that, you’ll be fine,” Elsa knew she was lying as the words left her mouth, but didn’t know what else to say. She forced a smile through her tears. Honeymaren managed to return a surprisingly genuine one.

“These past months have been the best of my life, I only regret is leaving you like this.”

“Stay with me, please…” Elsa managed through her tears. They looked at each other for a while, not wanting to say goodbye. Instead they held each other tight and caressed each other’s face, letting their actions speak for them. Elsa could feel Honeymaren’s grip on her hand weakening and the colour fading from her face.

“Don’t… let this… change you,” she wheezed, before her eyes slowly closed. Elsa cradled Honeymaren to her chest and squeezed her tightly with both arms.

Frost enveloped the whole village as Elsa sobbed quietly. A chilly breeze swept the entire valley. Ryder came running from his part of the battle with frozen blood on the ice sword Elsa made for him earlier.

“Honeymaren?” he asked desperately. Elsa’s tear stained face gave him his answer before she shook her head. Ryder narrowed his eyes at the moaning, semi-impaled commander of the Black Company and marched purposefully over to him.

“Wait, I’ll tell you who hired us!” Ezekyle attempted to bargain for his life. Ryder was lucid enough to hesitate mid swing and looked to Elsa for permission.

“I already know who hired you,” Elsa declared coldly, giving a barely perceptible nod.

Ryder’s ice sword separated Ezekyle’s head from his shoulders before he could say anything more.

* * *

Elsa left Ryder to grieve over his sister and tried to make herself useful to take her mind off her latest heartbreak. She gave soothing words and ice to the Northuldra wounded while ignoring the few surviving wounded mercenaries, before begrudgingly treating wounds with ice. Many of the latter were terrified that she was coming to finish them off. Elsa’s gesture wasn’t all humanitarian, live prisoners could give statements against their employer.

General Mattias arrived a couple of hours after the battle at the head of a small unit of cavalry, all which could be spared in such short notice. He made his way past several bodies still impaled on ice to Yelena and they shared an embrace, being in a state of semi-war for over three decades ironically meant that they shared a deep bond few others would ever forge.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to stop this,” Mattias said as they broke the hug.

“No this is all because of me,” interrupted Elsa as she strode up to them. S had stopped crying but her eyes were still red. To both of them she continued, “This heinous act will not stand.”

“How do you plan to punish the people who did this?” Yelena tone practically demanded it. Behind her, the injured of her tribe lay moaning in tents and in the fields, families wailed over the bodies of lost loved ones.

“That is exactly what I would like to discuss with you now, General.”

* * *

Gale managed to deliver Elsa’s letter to Anna informing her of the loss of life up north after her inspection of mobilised reservists and her meeting with the French Ambassador. Fortunately Kristoff was nearby to hold her as she wobbled after reading about Honeymaren and all of the other dead and wounded. Her mother’s tribe had now suffered a second disaster in a generation.

“So much death… Why can’t they just leave us alone and take care of their own stupid country?” moaned Anna.

Kristoff wasn’t sure if the question was rhetorical, but ventured, “It is easier to look for problems elsewhere than it is to look at your own problems?”

“Simple as that huh? And hundreds are dead because our _Grand_ Duke can’t solve his own issues,” the venom in Anna’s voice wasn’t directed at Kristoff but he still leaned slightly away from his wife.

“Sorry, not a very lady like thing to say, huh?”

“He deserves every word and more,” Kristoff smiled reassuringly back.

Anna had to leave for her next meeting while Kristoff left to put the logistical acumen he gained transporting ice into organising supply trains for the army.

Ambassadors asked Anna how she knew it was Weselton who hired the assassins.

 _Take my word for it,_ Anna wanted to retort. Instead she said, “The Black Company commander stood with the Grand Duke during negotiations, there are prisoners who can testify and we are uncovering more evidence as we speak.”

They asked if they could send their own people to verify the claims of this battle in the north.

 _No you can’t you damned voyeurs!_ she wanted to yell back but had to settle for the more diplomatic, “Given the loss of life I do not think it would be sensitive to do so immediately.”

Most importantly they wanted to know how Arendelle will respond to this violation of its sovereignty.

 _We’ll march to their capital and arrest everyone, especially the Grand Duke, and make them regret crossing us,_ she wished to say. “We would like your political and military support for any actions Arendelle will take in the coming days,” Anna said instead. Larger countries lost interest when they realised Anna had no intention of occupying Weselton and so their chances of annexing territory was small, smaller ones said they didn’t have much to contribute to war. It became clear that other than supportive words, not much help was going to come Arendelle’s way anytime soon. At least no one was demanding Arendelle stay their hand either.

It was already sundown when Elsa returned and the three of them shared a very sombre dinner. Elsa recalled the battle, ranging from stoical to emotional as she recalled Honeymaren’s last moments. Anna decided that she and Elsa could both use some sisterly support and told Kristoff that she would be staying with her for the night.

“So how are you doing,” Anna asked at the got ready for bed.

“Still processing,” Elsa sadly replied.

“I’m here for you, so don’t do your concealing and not feeling routine. Please talk if you want to.”

“They will find out that they failed and that I’m still alive soon. We should strike back now before they do,” Elsa said as they got into bed changing the topic.

“I haven’t had the time to review the plans with General Mattias yet, and I’d still like some more support from other countries. We can have a proper discussion and planning session tomorrow,” Anna sleepily replied.

“Someone has been supplying them with those magical trinkets. I’m sure we can whoever is behind that is at Auradon,” Elsa continued. “And this person may be another magic user.”

“Promise me you won’t go off on some suicide revenge mission alone,” Anna detected where the conversation was heading and intended to head it off.

“Yes I promise I, no suicide missions,” Elsa smiled back. She had no intention of dying.

“That’s great,” Anna said, stifling a yawn. “Let’s get some sleep, we’ll need it for all the work we need to do tomorrow.” Anna closed her eyes and was quickly asleep.

Elsa regarded her sleeping sister for a few minutes, gently stroking her hair as Anna started to snore lightly.

“I’m sorry Anna, I don’t want you to see what I need to do next,” Elsa whispered as she got out of the bed. She froze the windows shut as well as the door after she exited the room in case Anna woke up in the middle of the night and went looking for her.

Elsa purposefully marched down to the map room, using her magic to convert her sleeping clothes into a more imposing light blue dress as she walked. Deciding that an entrance was warranted, she lightly frosted the doors with a thin layer of frost so that she could manipulate them with a hand gesture. The doors swung open to reveal military officers clustered around the large map table, all of whom looked up at her as she entered. Figures denoted the disposition of Arendelle’s military units.

“Queen Anna has agreed to the proposed course of action,” Elsa announced so regally and confidently that no one even conceived it could be a lie. “General Mattias, have you managed to bring everyone up to speed?”

“Yes, and we are ready to start drafting orders immediately,” he replied.

“Good, and how soon will our men be able to advance?”

“We will be ready to cross the Weseltonian border by daybreak, and reach their capital in less than a week,” Mattias responded after briefly conferring with his aides.

“Committing our entire army is pretty risky, we don’t know their full strength, we’re marching into enemy territory and we may not have the numbers to siege the city,” an officer interjected.

“Just make sure you follow the timetable, I’ll keep their army off balance.”

When she was met with an unconvinced look she shot back a cold glare until he looked away. Summoning snow flurries over her palms, she continued,

“Never underestimate the power of snow and ice.”


	9. Into the Heart of Darkness Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As indicated by the title, Apocalypse Now! is an influence as Anna and Kristoff journey into Weselton. Originally intended to just be one chapter but decided to split it. More to come in Part 2

_Princess Anna stalked as silently as she could through the underbrush, somehow avoiding tripping clumsily or moving with the noise many back in Arendelle had come to expect from her. In the clearing up ahead was a grazing doe apparently unaware of her presence. It was as close to ideal as possible. Anna pulled back the string of her already notched bow to her cheek and steadied her breathing. Aiming carefully she let loose the arrow, which flew true and stuck the doe in the neck. The beast spasmed and fell to the ground._

_Anna squealed in excitement. She had done it! After months of pestering her parents, she had done it! On her first hunt! And on a proper hunt too, not the cheating method of having men on horses with hounds driving the prey to her._

_Practically skipping to her prize she then noticed that the doe was still clinging on to life as she got close. Its chest rose and fell in short, weak breaths and blood was freely flowing from the arrow wound into a growing pool. The mortally wounded animal squirmed and ineffectively kicked its legs in a vain attempt to escape._

_A large round eye full of fear stared at Anna as she crept closer, notching another arrow. As she started to draw the bow, it tried to let out panicked barks but in its dying state it sounded like a series sad, pleading wheezes. Arrow and string drawn to her cheek with a quivering hand, all she had to do was let go and end the doe’s pain. She froze holding the draw until the strain in her muscles forced her to release the pressure. Anna couldn’t do it._

_“Don’t let her suffer, Anna,” said Queen Iduna softly but sternly as walked briskly from behind her daughter to the fallen creature and delivered an efficient_ coup de grace _with her bow. She turned around and realised that Anna had tears streaming down her face. Immediately she took her daughter into her arms as Anna dropped her bow and arrow to the ground._

_“It’s okay dear,” Iduna soothed her youngest child. “Not everyone is cut out for this, and it’s okay.”_

_It was months before Anna next touched her bow, and she never went hunting again._

* * *

Anna stared up at the low wooden ceiling from her small bed. In her right hand she idly twirled her new dagger, drawing lazy circles in the small, dank room.

“Weselton. Shit.”

Just yesterday she had woken in her luxurious bed back in the castle, only to discover that the doors had been frozen shut. And so were the windows. Then when someone heard her screamed obscenities (Olaf’s presence had tempered her choice of words the last time) she found out that not only had Elsa dispatched Arendelle’s army using her authority, Elsa herself was nowhere to be found. Anna then had to make her latest most important decision on the other side of a frozen door. To call back her army or let them proceed. Begrudgingly she let Elsa have her way again, figuring that whatever Elsa had in mind, she needed the army as part of her plan. The young liaison officer then asked if Anna would be joining the command staff at the vanguard. Anna thought it was an excellent idea, so Sven, Kjekk and their riders left the castle grounds, headed to the border.

A larger wave hit the ship, sending the overhead lantern swaying, causing the shadows in the dreary cabin to dance. Anna eyed the lantern through narrowed eyes as its oscillations were slowly damped and settled back to a much less pronounced swinging motion.

Anna had watched them leave from her still frozen room. Fires had been lit outside the door to speed up the thawing. The Foreign Minister had been summoned and told that war had been declared with the army already marching, sans the Elsa going rogue part so she need not have to lie during her subsequent meetings with ambassadors. She was also wise enough not to probe Anna for more details, such as why Elsa had apparently froze her in her room. Finally freed by an ice pick wielding Kristoff, Anna then dragged him to get supplies for their next adventure. A week’s worth of supplies. Textiles that Weselton highly valued. A cart and a sturdily built, chestnut coloured mare named Whirlwind to pull it. Technically not forged papers for themselves. And passage on a ship that will take them to the port closest to Auradon.

Even after almost a full day of travel, Anna wasn’t sure what she would when they caught up with Elsa, after yelling at her for running off again, that is. Apprehend this other sorceress, if it was at all possible? Otherwise help Elsa extract bloody revenge at the cost of their own conscience and morality? Or just drag Elsa back north to the Weseltonian capital, bury its ruling council in a snow until they come to terms, collect their army and head back home? 

Heavy footsteps of increasing loudness broke Anna’s train of thought, causing her to sit up from the bed. Kristoff noticed it too, got off the small chair and drew his sword and moved behind the door to their cabin. Voices with Weseltonian accents came from the other side of the door.

“Is this the room?” the first voice urgently called out.

“Hey Arendellians, are you in there?” a second, deep voice called out, followed by loud rasps on their cabin door.

Had their cover been blown already? News of the outbreak of war shouldn’t have travelled this fast. Anna had estimated that since official information would have to come from their capital before traveling south and that the war wouldn’t be announced in Arendellian papers until the following day, they should be able to keep a couple of days ahead of the knowledge of the conflict.

With her dagger hidden behind her back, and a nod from Kristoff, Anna opened the door to see two large men outside. They had serious looks on their faces. At least they appeared unarmed.

“Yesss?” Anna said in her most cheerful, innocent voice. The kind she used to use after she broke things in the castle.

“I heard you guys are textile traders?” the first man, a brown haired man with a thin moustache began.

“We’re from a town about a day’s travel from the coast. Before the embargo, Arendellian cloth was highly sought after, we’re wondering if we could buy what you have to sell,” the second one added. He was slightly smaller built but his features were similar enough to the first that Anna suspected they could be brothers.

“Ah my superiors will be happy to hear that interest in our products hasn’t waned in the intervening years,” Anna replied with a practised smile. “Unfortunately, since we are on a market research mission we can’t sell our stock to you right now. Tell you what, we’ll let you guys a few samples and you guys can let us know how much you’d like to import from us so we can make the arrangements one trade between our two states properly restarts.” _Which is definitely a lot longer than what you think,_ added Anna silently, before reaching for an order book which the two maybe brothers eagerly filled out.

“Thank you for your business,” Anna happily called out after then as they left, before closing and locking the door and finally sheathing her dagger. Kristoff let out a sigh and did the same with his sword, before catching Anna’s eye and giving her a smile.

“Not how I imagined what our pre-wedding vacation was going to be. Maybe Olaf was right about us and mortal danger. I hope you haven’t planned for us to steal another countries’ crown jewels for our honeymoon,” snickered Kristoff, attempting to make light of the situation.

“As a matter of fact I was planning to ask Elsa to sit in as Queen for at least a couple of weeks so we could travel to Southern Italy for our honeymoon. Somewhere with proper beaches and sun. Olaf would have loved it. Surprise!” Anna waved her arms in mock joviality but with a genuine smile.

“Now all I want is get this over with as soon as possible and get things back to normal, well as normal as they can be after this,” Anna’s voice darkened as she finished.

Kristoff stepped close to give Anna a comforting embrace, doing his best to not to show the past few days had affected him so he could support Anna better.

“We’ll be fine, we’ll pull though together.”

“As long as we are together,” she confirmed. Anna patted his blonde head playfully. “We still have a couple of hours before we reach port and then it’s hard journey from there so let’s make the most of what time we have now.”

“Of course, my Queen.”

* * *

They left the port heading west, paralleling the columns of the Arendellian army many miles further north. Traveling through the night, they made good time despite the unfamiliar roads and old maps. Traffic was quite light, noted Anna, and she judged that perhaps the lack of internal trade together with the increasing dilapidation of towns they passed indicated that the Grand Duke hadn’t been exaggerating about the state of the Weseltonian economy. If anyone had seen a platinum blonde riding a horse made of water, no one made mention of it. Anna wondered what disguise Elsa could be using.

Anna and Kristoff tried to avoid interactions with the locals as much as possible, and when not avoidable their cover story seemed to satisfy most queries. Free samples of Arendellian cloth satisfied the others. As a bonus they found that their order book was also filling up.

They arrived at the small crossroad town where the road deeper into Auradon intersected the major north-south highway to the capital in the afternoon of their second day on the road. The roads didn’t pass directly though the town most of it was built up on the south western side of the crossroads. Outside the town and on the roadside were small orchards and farms that turned into woods beyond. Traffic was much heavier and there was a garrison of the Weseltonian army at the outskirts. There were red-coated soldiers patrolling the road side, keeping the peace and bandits away.

One soldier must have noticed something foreign about them, as she waved them to a halt and approached them.

“Not from around here are you?” the blonde asked, blue eyes staring suspiciously at Anna’s holstered rapier.

“We are on a trade mission from Arendelle,” Anna began her now practiced line. The soldier’s eyes narrowed.

“The whole country has been hurting since you embargoed us for no reason,” she echoed the familiar accusation. Anna knew better than to correct the record about what actually happened at Elsa’s coronation, years of propaganda couldn’t be refuted so easily. “Both of you off the cart and show us your papers.”

“Well that’s exactly what we’re here to fix. My name is Joan by the way. Nice to meet you,” Anna displayed her winning smile and extended her hand as she dismounted. On the ground she discovered that the soldier was about a few of inches taller than she was.

“Umm… my name is Astrid,” the soldier replied, slightly confused. She grasped the offered hand tepidly.

“Hi Astrid,” Anna said and gave a firm handshake, much more than what Astrid was expecting. On the other side of the cart, Kristoff also dismounted and started talking to a second soldier.

“Papers,” Astrid repeated more firmly.

“Of course,” said Anna as she produced the passports and trade writ she had written for themselves.

“Do all traders from Arendelle always travel so armed? Expecting some rough business?” Astrid asked mirthlessly as she nodded towards the holstered weapons at Anna’s belt.

“Strictly for self-defence only, and we aren’t carrying any guns,” replied Anna, thankful that they decided against carrying more weapons.

“Uh huh. We just heard the news of the trade agreement a couple of days ago, you got here quite fast,” the suspicion was evident in Astrid’s voice as she studied the documents.

“It’s been a couple of weeks already, and my government is eager to re-establish trade with Weselton,” exaggerated Anna.

“Your writ is only three days old. You must have hauled ass to get here this quickly. What’s your rush and where are you going?”

“We’re heading for Auradon,” Anna decided that the truth would be more convenient than a lie.

“Auradon? The whole province is almost a wasteland, there is hardly anything there. And the people there won’t be interested in or able to afford luxury Arendillian textiles.”

“I see,” mused Anna, “but our instructions are to head to Auradon. Between you and me, we don't really know much about this part of your country so they want us to look for any trading opportunities in the area.”

“There is nothing for you there, you’re better off heading north or south if you want to find people who might be interested to trade.”

“Ah we have other teams going there over the next few weeks,” answered Anna, trying hard to hide her increasing concern about the curious soldier before her. Thinking quickly, she reached into the back of the cart.

“Hey hands where I can see them!” snapped Astrid, her hand drifting to the hilt of her sword.

“Relax!” chirped Anna as she pulled out a small bundle of cloth and offered it to Astrid.

“Here, as thanks for keeping us safe from bandits. Maybe your officers could order some for the army, these blankets are really good for keeping warm during the winters. And they clean quite easily. I know this from personal experience,” Anna offered truthfully.

“Are you kidding?” Astrid scoffed but still accepted the cloth. “They barely pay us on time. They aren’t going to splurge on winter blankets anytime soon, especially not imported ones.” Astrid tested the cloth between her fingers. “Wow these are really soft. My husband could use these. Are all your cloth this good or are these samples are better than average.”

“Our weavers pride themselves with consistent high quality,” assured Anna, and taking the opportunity to change the subject she continued, “Is your husband a woodsman?”

“Nah, he is a blacksmith, but he is amputated below the knee and I think this could really help his sores.”

“Then please take it,” Anna said with genuine sincerity. She reached into the cart again and pulled out a few more bundles and offered it to Astrid. “For your garrison, courtesy of Arrendelle.”

Astrid hesitated for a second, before accepting the cloth and returning Anna’s papers.

“Thanks,” said Astrid and offered Anna a small smile which Anna happily returned. Astrid snapped her fingers and to get the attention of the soldier talking to Kristoff but the other soldier was apparently satisfied with whatever Kristoff had to say and had continued moving down the road. With a slight slump of her shoulders, Astrid started walking back towards the single story building Anna assumed was their barracks.

_Home free,_ Anna thought to herself before thinking that maybe the phase was not very accurate as they were now going to travel deeper into enemy territory. Astrid had only gotten a few paces away when a rider arriving from the north reached the barracks to some commotion. Anna hoped against hope that he didn’t come bearing the news he almost certainly was. 

“Arendelle has invaded, we are at war!” shouted one of the soldiers, confirming Anna’s fears. Astrid abruptly stopped walking. Anna drew her rapier and pointed it at Astrid’s back; the horse would prevent the other soldiers from seeing what was happening.

“Keep walking Astrid, I don’t want to have to hurt you,” Anna said slowly and clearly. Faster than she expected, Astrid managed to draw her sword and turn around before the dropped cloth hit the ground.

“Arendellian spies here!” Astrid called out. Narrowing her fierce blue eyes she spat, “No trader would have threatened a soldier so easily.”

_Huh, good point,_ thought Anna, returning Astrid’s stare with a steely glance of her own.

“Fiestypants,” called Kristoff from the other side of the cart. Despite the situation he couldn’t help himself

“Seriously!? Now!?” Anna glared daggers at her mountain man.

Astrid took full advantage of Anna’s momentarily lapse in concentration and lunged the short distance between them. Anna’s rapier barely met Astrid’s smallsword in time with a clang of metal. Anna only had a moment to appreciate Astrid’s strength before Astrid withdrew and lunged again.

Anna’s blade parried the oncoming blade in the nick of time, but Astrid used her superior strength to break the parry and Anna nearly lost her grip on her rapier, almost getting disarmed in the process. Anna quickly recognised Astrid’s fighting style, focusing on speed, calibrated to take out bigger and stronger opponents, as it was similar to her own. She hoped that Astrid was not used to fighting against someone who also leveraged speed in a fight, as she couldn’t match her strength.

Counting on Astrid to attempt a killing blow next, she made herself look off balance. As Astrid’s blade closed in, Anna sidestepped and twisted her waist as late as she dared. Astrid compensated but only manged to cut tunic. Anna counter attacked with all her speed but Astrid was fast too and her attack was deflected. With her left hand, Anna quickly drew her dagger in a reverse grip and brought it down to stab Astrid’s exposed right arm.

Astrid only grimaced from the pain and brought back her sword to bat Anna’s dagger away while Anna riposted with her rapier and stabbed again with her dagger once Astrid’s sword moved to intercept her rapier. Anna’s quick attacks were grinding down the injured soldier’s defence and finally she landed a thrust against Astrid’s midriff. Despite the hit Astrid managed a fierce slash which almost off Anna’s arm before falling to her knees in pain. For what it was worth, she still maintained her guard, pointing her sword defiantly at Anna.

_Am I going to strike down a wounded person?_ Anna asked herself.

“Give it up Astrid, just lie down and I won’t hurt you anymore,” Anna said tersely, despite comprehending the futility of it all. Their cover was blown and they were stuck many miles behind enemy lines. She could hear the clang of swords nearby as Kristoff fought the other soldier. They would be lucky to escape with their lives.

Astrid came to a similar conclusion. “No, _you_ surrender and _we_ won’t hurt you anymore,” she shot back despite her injury.

Anna froze and for a very brief moment considered Astrid’s offer before rejecting it utterly. Her mind registered the soldier fighting Kristoff running away. They could now get back on their vehicle and make a run for it.

As her mind planned their next move, Kristoff suddenly came sailing over the cart and tackled her to the ground. Moments later, a hail of splinters erupted around them as musket balls slammed into the cart. Their horse groaned painfully as it slumped dead. So much for that escape plan. Still lying prone, she felt a steady tremor in the ground.

“Did you feel that?” Anna asked Kristoff urgently as they picked themselves off the ground.

“Yeah, we’re about to get a lot more company.” The thundering of approaching hooves was unmistakable.

“You guys are so screwed,” laughed Astrid from the ground, also uninjured from the volley.

“We’ve got to move,” said Kristoff as he grabbed their go-back off their cart and threw Anna her archery kit.

“Woods,” Anna concurred, pointing with her bow and slinging the quiver over her back. It would provide cover from being shot and horses couldn’t go as fast in woods compared to open fields. They sprinted for the treeline as dozens of riders appeared, riding from the north.

Of more immediate concern was the line of a couple dozen soldiers reloading their muskets. The process ramming down powder and ball down the barrel, setting the firing cap and finally cocking the weapon was hard to do while moving. The formation had broken up as some soldiers decided to give chase with empty weapons instead. It was considerably easier to notch a bow on the move, and Anna let an arrow fly at the mass of enemy soldiers, to discourage pursuit. A cry of pain meant that flesh was pierced.

The messenger on horseback was quickly closing the distance, drawn sabre reflecting the sun and red coattails fluttering as the black horse galloped towards them. He would catch them before they could reach the treeline.

“We need to take him out,” Kristoff deadpanned; as Anna realised he did during life or death situations. “We could use his horse too.”

With the messenger just seconds away, Kristoff turned to face him in a two handed guard stance. Anna took a few more paces to position herself behind and slightly offset of Kristoff. That way she could get the clearest shot possible with the minimum deflection angle. Steading her heavy breathing as best she could she loosed an arrow at the quickly approaching horseman.

It was a pretty good shot, considering that the a winded shooter was trying to hit a moving target, while simultaneously having to miss her fiancé as well as the horse’s neck and head. However the arrow still failed to hit its target, instead grazing the messenger’s left arm. It did cause him to flinch and distract his mind enough to misjudge his swing against Kristoff. Kristoff took full advantage, successfully slashing his waist and causing him to fall backwards off his horse.

The now rider less horse barrelled towards Anna. She was ready, her bow holstered on her back and right arm extended sideways. Anna tensed herself, ready to grab the horse’s neck and swing herself onto the saddle. Anna psyched herself by remembering how Kristoff had snatched her off the ground onto Sven numerous times, most recently twice in as many days when they first got to Northuldra. How hard could it be to swing herself onto a galloping beast?

Much harder than Anna expected. She successfully caught the horse’s neck but with not enough swing, she bounced off the horse’s side and ended up falling flat onto the ground.

“Owww…” Anna moaned not only at the fresh sensations of pain in her body but also at their potential escape vehicle running further away.

Gunfire erupted around them as the soldiers variously caught up and opened undisciplined fire. Kristoff appeared over and pulled her back onto her feet and then they were sprinting hand in hand to the treeline again, with just over half the gap left to span.

Thanks to the distraction, the troop of cavalry had now almost completely closed the distance. Anna’s mind wondered at the possible ways she could be killed. Would she be cut down by a sword slash? Shot by a pistol? Skewered by a lance? Or trampled under hooved feet?

_I_ _wonder which would hurt the least,_ Anna pondered as she ran. Even reaching the treeline was no guarantee against any of these fates, especially with them as such close pursuit, but Anna still focused on the woods as a lifeline as the horsemen got ever closer.

Anna didn’t look as the vanguard of the cavalry force opened fire with pistols. Anna noted with some satisfaction that these men must be poor shots as none of their shots had landed anywhere near them. She could reach the trees before they got into melee range.

Shouts of panic erupted from behind her. Was it just her or were the voices coming from the pursing foot soldiers? Anna slowed down to chance a glance behind them, earning a reprimanding tug from Kristoff. It took a few seconds for Anna to register the sight, before she tugged Kristoff's hand back harder to slow him down.

“Look!” she gasped, short on breath but with relief in her voice that Kristoff immediately picked up on as he turned back to see.

The cavalry was clad in Arendellian green and were charging the pursuing Weseltonian soldiers. ****

* * *

_**"Your attempts to eliminate the Arendellian sisters have failed, and now their armies are marching on us as we speak. We could be under siege in a couple of days!"** _

_**"I was just doing as instructed by her. Might I suggest leaving before we get surrounded?"** _

_**"I can't leave, I am the Grand Duke! And if I'm not going, no one else is."** _

_**"Good thing that I don't answer to you, and she has informed me that I may take my leave."** _

_**"If you leave, you'll have nowhere to go!"** _

_**"It wouldn't be the first time"** _


	10. Into the Heart of Darkness Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anna and Kristoff continue their journey deeper into Auradon.

The Arendellian cavalry tore into the disorganised Weseltonian soldiers, cutting them down where they caught them like a scythe through wheat. With no time to form defensive lines, the hapless soldiers could only individually respond with panicked shots and desperate swings. It wasn’t a long battle.

Anna and Kristoff walked back to their cart at a far more leisurely pace than they did leaving it. Anna was thankful she decided to wear flat boots this time around; having learnt that running in high heels was not very comfortable. As they approached their cart, a cavalry officer galloped towards them, back straight and wielding a blood crusted saber. He was wearing a high crowned, wide brimmed hat instead of the standard issue stovepipe hat.

“Captain William Kilgour, Ninth Squadron, First Arendellian Cavalry. Tell me, what did the two of you do to anger all these soldiers?” he asked with all the stereotypical arrogance and condescension of a cavalry officer fresh off a battlefield victory.

Anna and Kristoff shared a glance with each other, amused that they were not recognised.

“Oh we are just on a trade mission from Arendelle,” Anna chirped in a bubbly voice, wondering how long it would take the cavalry officer to realise who he was speaking to.

“Good thing me and my men were passing through to render assistance to our fellow countrymen,” beamed Kilgour, definitely becoming more pleased with himself. Anna could picture him too mentally crossing off ‘saving a damsel in distress’ on his hero list to notice the actual royalty in front of him.

“Don’t you know there is a war on?” he continued. “You guys should follow the road we came up from and head back home. It’s not safe for our people here. Not to say you couldn’t defend yourself, I saw you square off against that rider,” pointing to Kristoff, “such courage, such skill! If you ever want a change in career, the army could use people like you. What’s your name good sir?”

“Hey I shot him with an arrow too, and anyone else you find with an arrow in them,” interjected Anna with barely controlled irritation. She didn’t like having her contribution glossed over.

“And you are a good shot, milady, but you’ll find it very hard to shoot accurately from horseback,” Kilgour replied with a tint of snobbishness, uninterested in anything Anna might be able to offer. He looked at Kristoff instead, anticipating his answer.

Not liking how Anna was being treated, Kristoff ended the charade. “Kristoff Bjorgman,” he answered curtly, maintaining eye contact and preparing to savour the cavalryman’s reaction.

Recognition suddenly dawned on his face and he sheepishly took his hat off and offered a deep bow.

“Your majesty, my lord. My apologies,” Kilgour cringed. “What are you doing so deep in Weselton alone?” his tone was only slightly apologetic as the surprise wore off and he stood back up.

“We’re on a mission to end the war without resorting to a costly siege of the capital. What are you doing so far south?” Anna said in a more serious, admonishing tone, not intending to let her subordinate off the hook so easily.

“Oh just doing some recon and screening the main formation’s southern flank,” answered Kilgour flimsily, well aware that he unit wasn’t where it was supposed to be.

“I could fit several regiments between your unit and the rest of the army,” Kristoff pointed out.

“It was some em… aggressive recon. We plan to head west after this and then swing back north.”

Anna suspected he was glory hunting at best, looting and pillaging at worst. 

“In your _reconning_ , have you seen any signs of my sister?” Anna asked, doing her best to keep the concern out of her voice.

“Not a single snowflake. Genaral Mattias is in currently in command. Is she expected to join up with us?” Kilgour tone indicated he remained oblivious to Anna’s worries.

“If she completes her mission early,” Anna replied to a barely suppressed smile from the captain. Having the Snow Queen on your side in battle was always good news. “Alright, my orders are for you to proceed back north and actually screen the army’s flank,” Anna practically reprimanded the officer.

“We could also use your help corralling that horse to pull our cart,” Kristoff indicated to the riderless messenger horse that was currently grazing not too far away. While the officer ordered a couple of his men to fetch the horse, Anna dug into her purse and pulled out a few gold coins to puzzled looks from the men.

“But first move the wounded into town and use this to pay for any treatment or lodging they may require,” she instructed.

“We didn’t suffer any casualties,” Kilgour pointed out. The battle of infantry out of formation against charging cavalry on exposed ground was inevitably very one sided.

“Not ours, theirs,” Anna specified, nodding towards Astrid. She had used one of the blankets as a makeshift bandage around her waist but still lay on the ground to not reopen her wounds, a blood train indicated that she had tried moving earlier. Now she was observing them with suspicious eyes.

“If I may, my Queen, we are at war. We can’t accommodate our enemy so…” Kilgour said while looking at Astrid, who stared back at him.

“This is how I’m going to fight this war,” Anna cut him off.

Kilgour was about to make another protest, before thinking better of it and accepting his Queen’s command, Kilgour nodded his head. “Will there be anything else, your majesty?”

“Do I need to remind you to respect the persons and property of Weseltonian civilians?”

“No, my Queen.”

“Good. And try not to enjoy yourself too much. I don’t expect to fight any wars again anytime soon.”

Captain Kilgour started to turn to mount his horse, before and stopping and replying, “On the country, your majesty. That is all the more reason to enjoy the war that we have now.”

* * *

“You see why I turned down the commission into the cavalry,” Kristoff said to break the silence that had persisted since they continued their journey.

Anna’s gaze shifted from the horizon back towards Kristoff. “I’m sure they’re not _all_ like that. Plus maybe you being there would make them less… like that?”

Kristoff let out a soft chuckle, “Cavalry officers attract a special breed of men. People looking for a job where you’re expected to charge towards guns have dreams of glory and grandeur. It’s probably an important motivator.”

“I charged and baited rock giants to throw rocks at the dam I was standing on. Are you saying I have delusions of grandeur too?” Anna’s tone contained a warning that he should choose his next words wisely. He wasn't sure if it was genuine or playful.

Kristoff cringed at the memory of Anna almost being crushed by a rock giant’s foot and then almost falling to her death when the dam collapsed around her. “Well that’s totally different! You did it selflessly everyone else,” he offered, almost unconsciously squeezing her had as recalled the fatefull day. “Besides you did choose to settle down with a lowly ice harvester, so no one can accuse you of being pompous,” Kristoff continued, ending with a cheeky grin.

Anna pouted but there was satisfied with his answer and rewarded him with glimmer of a smile. “Says the person who came charging on a reindeer towards those same rock giants. And today you faced off a charging horse. Maybe the cavalry is right for you after all.”

“I did that for the woman I love! Unless she plans on being in immediate danger every time she needs me to charge,” he confidently replied as he pulled the reigns of the horse slightly to correct its path. “And I know she'd have my back too.”

Happy with his answers, Anna scooted closer to lean onto Kristoff’s shoulder but her expression remained morose.

“Anything on your mind?” Kristoff probed softly.

“I wonder if she is okay,” Anna confided.

“Who?”

“The soldier I stabbed. One minute she was talking about her husband and then she was bleeding on the ground thanks to the wound I inflicted,” Anna recalled sadly. “I know it was self-defence but it felt very personal. I still feel horrible.”

“Hey, you went above and beyond. I don’t think anyone else would have paid for the care of enemy soldiers out of their own pocket,” he reassured. Anna had a heart of gold and he would to whatever he could to soothe and preserve it.

“And then there are all the other soldiers who got killed or hurt but I don’t feel too badly for them since I didn’t talk to any of them. Because of that I feel bad for not feeling bad.” Anna laughed humourlessly at the absurdity of it. “I’m really impossible, aren’t I.”

“I talked to the other guy about reindeer, and that’s pretty much as personal as it gets for me,” Kristoff admitted.

“And you seem fine, how do you do it?”

“Well you have to worry about the whole of Arendelle, I just have to worry about you. Makes things simpler for me I guess,” Kristoff answered after a short pause.

Anna smiled genuinely before adding, “I need you to worry about catching up with Elsa right now too.”

“And we will,” Kristoff assured.

They rode in silence for a while when he suddenly felt Anna giggling against his shoulder. “I just realised that we literally shot the messenger.”

Kristoff smiled to himself. Newfound black humour aside, he was sure the two of them would be fine.

* * *

Anna and Kristoff’s commandeered horse proved a sturdy traveller. They made good progress over the rest of the day, regaining lost time from the battle and reaching the border of Auradon province as evening approached. Bandit attacks in the area were apparently common enough that the few passer-by on the roads didn’t even give the bullet holes in their cart a second glance. Fortunately they didn’t encounter any bandits themselves. 

The neglect of the province was painfully obvious, the road condition was noticeably deteriorating as they progressed closer to the province capital. Even the trees by the roadside looked increasingly sickly and what crops they spotted from the road looked to be blighted. The bare branches casted long shadows along the road, making their journey altogether eerie and foreboding as they went on.

The next village didn’t help the atmosphere either. Many buildings, based on their state of disrepair, were clearly abandoned some time ago and most of those occupied were only in marginally better condition. From their ramshackle farmhouse just outside the village, three forlorn children stared at them as they trotted past, catching Anna’s eye. 

“Hey pull over,” said Anna as she tugged on Kristoff’s arm.

“What is it?” Kristoff asked as he pulled the horse to a stop.

“We’ve got some time haven’t we?” Anna grinned with a sparkle in her eyes that Kristoff hadn’t seen since the crisis began. Kristoff then spotted the children and estimated the oldest, a raven haired girl, was about 10 years old, with two dirty blonde younger brothers 8 and 6 years old. Their disheveled appearance and dirty hands made him think that they might have just gotten back from working the fields.

She bounded to the back of the cart and pulled out most of their remaining blankets and walked the short distance to the family. Kristoff didn’t have a chance to object, but after a short consideration, he decided not to, knowing how much helping the underprivileged back in Arendelle, especially children, meant to Anna. Charity work had been the mainstay of Princess Anna’s official duties the past few years and her warm, caring personality made her a natural at it. He smiled to himself, glad that this part of Anna was managing to shine through, and followed a few steps behind her as they approached the family. Somethings never changed, even deep behind enemy lines.

The small family took to their feet, the two younger siblings hiding behind their elder sister, uncertain why foreign strangers were walking towards them. Anna introduced herself as Joan and drawing on her previous experiences talking to unfamiliar children, she quickly won over and was soon showing off the colourful patterns on the Arendellian cloth she brought to admiring eyes. Kristoff stood a bit back, admiring the ease at which Anna was playing with the children, literally bringing colour into their lives.

The serene atmosphere only lasted a few minutes before the children’s tired looking mother came marching over from the field. Like her daughter, Heather had raven hair and was wearing a worn working outfit.

“What are you doing with my children?” she demanded, shepherding her children away from Anna and into the house, at the same time casting a wary eye at the swords Anna and Kristoff had sheathed to their waists.

“Hi! I’m Joan,” Anna said with a cheerful smile. Tilting her head to the blankets the children were playing with, she continued, “We are on a trade mission from Arendelle.”

“Arendelle?” Heather spat. “Life around here was bad enough but now my husband has had to travel north to find work since you wrecked our economy! Haven’t you made us suffer enough?” She picked up the blankets off the ground and shoved them into Anna’s face. “You can take back your cloth too, we aren’t going to pay for it.”

“Don’t worry, it’s free,” Anna explained patiently, gently moving Heather’s hand away as the blankets were blocking Anna’s view.

“And what’s the catch?” she shot back.

“Nothing! We are just here to establish trade relations with Auradon province,” Anna explained, slightly frustrated but also understand Heather’s mistrust in Arendelle. “Plus any goodwill we can cultivate would be a bonus,” Anna added hopefully.

Heather scowled but stopped trying to hand the blankets back, much to her children’s delight. “Thanks I guess,” she offered half-heartedly.

“If you don’t need them as blankets, they are really durable and could make good work clothes if you can sew or get some-“

“What’s going on there?” Kristoff suddenly interrupted, pointing at a wagon riding into town escorted by four horsemen with torches. Even from the distance he could see that the appearance of the convoy had few people on the streets scattering away.

Heather’s face darkened. “It’s the tax collector. Since the Duke of Weselton took direct control of Auradon province a few of months ago, these thugs have been very enthusiastically extorting us of what little we have left. If families can’t pay they’ll take the children away. I barely afforded the last tax.” She instinctively extended her arms around her children as she spoke.

“Wait, your own government is abducting children but you hate Arendelle?” Anna asked, flabbergasted.

“Well yes, if it wasn’t for Arendelle, the economy wouldn’t be this bad and we would be able to afford to pay,” Heather replied. Anna fought the urge to roll her eyes, Kristoff didn’t bother as he was far enough away for Heather not to notice. Screams and shouts started emanating from the village. Anna said her goodbyes to the family and walked over to Kristoff.

“Let’s take a closer look,” Anna whispered firmly. Kristoff knew it was a bad idea; they were risking discovery and likely compromising their mission, but he followed his fiancé into town. He too, would not let children be separated from their parents if there was anything he could do about it.

* * *

Darkness had completely fallen when Anna and Kristoff reached the village. The wagon was stopped in front of another unfortunate dwelling, loud voices originating from within. There were few lights on the streets, the main source of illumination were the torches carried by the wagon’s escorts. From their rooftop vantage point, they could see that there was a cage on the wagon, already filled with five young teenagers. They were all female.

“Looks like these ‘tax collectors’ are only interested in collecting young women,” Anna muttered angrily. The fate of poor, young women forced away from their family was sadly obvious.

“This doesn’t look like any tax collectors I have ever seen. More like sex traffickers,” Kristoff added, quite unnecessarily. They both knew exactly what happening in front of them.

“And all on the Duke’s orders. We should have cut him down on the bridge when we had the chance,” Anna barely contained her anger in her whisper. Just then two men emerged from the small house dragging a young woman out. An older man, the girl’s father, stepped out shortly after brandishing a sword. The older of the two men holding the girl, tall and well built, tilted his head towards the father. One of the horsemen galloped over and unceremoniously swung his sword across the father’s back, killing him instantly. There was another panicked scream from the house as the rest of the bereaved family rushed out. The newly created widow and her remaining children huddled over the man’s corpse as his tearful eldest daughter was shoved into the wagon’s cage. 

“We’re rescuing them aren’t we,” Kristoff whispered, knowing that Anna wouldn’t stand for such injustice happening right in front of her.

“Yes we are,” Anna replied, determination in her voice.

“What’s the plan?”

“I’m going to start by putting an arrow into that guy’s brain,” Anna answered, pointing at the tax collector, who was now sitting at the front of the wagon, commanding the driver to move on to the next house. Such casual discussion of murder from Anna would have seriously unnerved Kristoff on any other occasion.

“What about the rest of the crew?” Kristoff asked.

Anna coolly replied, “Crew expandable.”

Anna perched on rooftop above the road out of the village that the tax collector rode in on. She and Kristoff had reasoned that since the tax collectors would need to return their loot to their main base, they would be using the same road in and out. Otherwise Anna would be kicking herself for setting up the ambush at the wrong place. Fortunately she wouldn’t need to as she could now see the wagon and its four escorts heading their way. She signalled Kristoff, who was at ground level, to get ready and with outstretched fingers, started counting down.

Kristoff stepped out onto the road, challenging the small convoy with a pointed sword. His timing was excellent, giving Anna near perfect lines on sight on the stopped wagon and its outriders. Two of the outriders dismounted to confront Kristoff with swords where the other two remained on their horses, brandishing pistols. Anna’s heart swelled with pride and love at the sight of her betrothed gallantly facing down six blades and barrels alone. He had been her rock of support almost from the moment they first met, the past week had underscored his indispensability.

Anna pulled back her notched arrow to her cheek and took aim at the tax collector’s head. He was standing on the wagon, and Anna could clearly see his features. Bald. Moustache and a chin strip beard over a square jaw. Tall and muscularly built. Until a few days ago, she never expected that she would ever be pointing her weapon at another human being with intent to kill. It unnerved her slightly how quickly she had arrived at this state. At full draw and satisfied with her aim, she let loose.

Kristoff stepped out onto the road, pointing his sword at the oncoming horses, rearing them to a stop.

“I think those ladies would very much like to be excluded from your little trip,” Kristoff said, injecting as much confidence into his voice as he could, even as two men dismounted and approached him with swords.

The tax collector started laughing and the rest of his men followed suit.

“You’re going to take all six on us on your own? You’re not from around here are you? Don’t you know who I am? I’m Ryker Grimborn! The Duke of Weselton appointed me himself!”

“Well Ryker, your days of taking girls from their families are over!”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you.” To his men, Ryker commanded, “Keep him alive, I want to question this fo-” Ryker was interrupted by Anna’s arrow piercing his skull.

While the rest of the men were frozen in shock, Kristoff made his move, lunging and burying his sword deep into the swordsman closest to him. While using the man as a shield, with his free left hand, Kristoff pulled out his knife. With an excellent throw, he hit the chest of horseman to his side, who tumbled off his horse. A gunshot echoed along the deserted street and bullet slammed into the body of the man Kristoff was using as a shield. Kristoff withdrew his sword just out of the dead man just in time to match blades with the remaining swordsman. They traded a few blows before an arrow appeared in the man’s chest and he collapsed to the ground.

And it was done, all over in just over a minute. Kristoff smiled to himself, remembering how years ago, he and Anna had formed and unlikely connection and successfully fended off a pack of wolves. The smile quickly faded when he reminded himself that this time, they had fought other human beings and had killed six of them. With no small amount of ruthlessness to boot, even if they were sex traffickers.

Anna shimmed herself off her rooftop and landed relatively gracefully on the wagon as villagers emerged. Kristoff found the cage key on Ryker’s corpse and tossed it up to Anna who opened the cage. Extending her hand into the cage and with a warm smile, she helped the first nervous girl out. Anna had to personally help each girl out as they all sat immobile in the cage until Anna reached for them. Once out they just stood around the wagon, unsure about what to do next.

_Why aren’t they going home?_ Kristoff thought to himself. He then noticed that a small crowd was beginning to gather. _Oh well, I guess their parents will be here soon to pick them up._

Anna turned to a face the approaching villagers.

“My friends, tonight the reign of terror over your village is at an end,” Anna began.

“What have you fools done?!” a middle aged man shouted at them.

“Excuse me?” Anna clearly had not expected this reaction.

“You’ve only made things worse for us, you damn foreigners!” another man yelled, apparently the father of the young woman currently sobbing into his chest.

“We just risked our lives rescuing your daughters from these monsters!” Anna angrily shouted back.

“They’ll just come back again and demand more from us,” the first man shot back.

“They are all dead,” Kristoff helpfully pointed out.

“Someone else will come,” the man replied and drew a sword that Kristoff hadn’t noticed before.

“Are you kidding me? You’re drawing weapons against us but not to defend yourselves?” exclaimed Anna, aghast.

“Maybe the Duke will go easier on us if we give them a couple of Arendellian spies,” a third voice muttered from the crowd, close enough for Kristoff to hear. There were noises of assent and the villagers moved closer towards them.

_This is going really bad really fast._ “Anna we need to go!” Kristoff said, before wincing when realised that he used Anna’s real name out loud. _Hopefully nobody noticed_ , Kristoff hoped.

Anna looked at him, and then back towards the increasing hostile crowd and nodded to Kristoff. She mounted the nearest horse and Kristoff did the same.

“Fine, we are leaving,” Anna declared defiantly, rearing her horse towards the open road.

None of the villagers attempted to pursue them with the remaining horses as they galloped out of town. Kristoff chanced a glance back towards the village. He was shocked to see that many of the rescued girls were re-entering the cage, resigned to their fate. Anna noticed his change of expression and took a look back herself.

“What the actual fuck in going on?” Anna asked, angry and frustrated.

“They must be more scared and desperate than we realised,” Kristoff said, as they slowed their horses to a trot.

“How does the Duke get away with this in this day and age in Europe? I could kill him for this.” Anna muttered darkly.

Kristoff knew that both Anna and her sister had been taught and sincerely believed that leaders were meant to serve for the good of their subjects. The thought of having a populace so cowed by fear must be almost incomprehensible to her.

“We’ll get Elsa, go up to the Weseltonian Capital and make sure the new treaty includes a provision that demands the stripping of the Duke of his office and titles,” Kristoff supplied.

“Yes let’s do that,” Anna agreed, momentary bloodlust having subsided. She then frowned, “I really expected to have caught up with her by now.” Pausing awhile to think, “I don’t expect either of us would be sleeping tonight so let’s continue riding for Auradon Castle and catch up with Elsa.”

* * *

Anna was right to guess that neither of them would have any appetite for sleep that night. Instead they travelled as quickly as the night and unfamiliar road safely allowed. They arrived at the small settlement surrounding Auradon Castle just after daybreak. These buildings had been abandoned many years ago and looked the part. Several had even collapsed from lack of maintenance.

Kristoff surveyed the scene through a spyglass he found in the saddlebag of his stolen horse. The village looked deserted, the surrounding farmland filled with the rotten husks of crops. Not even weeds had grown to take their place.

“Following the road down the centre of the village would be the fastest but we will be vulnerable to ambushes if anyone’s home,” Kristoff reported to Anna as he handed the spyglass to her. “Or, we can take the path off to the side, near those rocks. The hill crest should block the view of anyone in the village of our approach.”

Looking though the spyglass, Anna nodded her head at Kristoff’s assessment. “A few more minutes won’t hurt us, let’s take the rocks.”

“Anna?” Kristoff asked in a very serious tone.

Anna put down the spyglass to look at her fiancé and arched and eyebrow. “Yesss?”

“Elsa isn’t here.” A statement, not a question. “Not a single snowflake in sight.”

Anna sighed loudly, “I know, I started coming to terms with it as we rode last night.” The disappointment of having her sister not being honest with her, again, was clear in her voice. “She must be on her way to the Weseltonian capital. But I think Elsa must have sent us here for a reason. She wouldn’t have allowed us to risk our lives otherwise.”

Kristoff was silent for a while and turned his attention back to the dead village and the castle walls just beyond. The castle was around the size of the one in Arendelle, a centre structure surrounded by walls. Part of the walls had crumbled. The domed roof of the main keep had collapsed and what structures that remained was falling apart. Anna directed her horse towards the path.

“Let’s see what she wanted us to find.”

They were mistaken about the rocks on the path they chose. Instead they found grey, decomposing corpses clad in rags.

“Looks maybe they died a couple months ago,” Kristoff hazarded a guess.

“They don’t look like they died fighting. I don’t see any restrains either. Did they just collapse here?” Anna was equally intrigued and disgusted.

“Does their position look like a semi-circle to you?”

Anna observed the distribution of the bodies. “Yeah, facing the castle. Are you thinking they were acolytes who starved or willing sacrifices?” She thought back to the girls she rescued the previous night and how they willingly went back into the cage. “Do you think this was what Ryker was collecting people for?”

Kristoff shuddered at the thought. “Then I’m extra glad we rescued them.” He looked up to the partially collapsed castle wall that they had almost reached. “So there could be a sorceress in there with potentially fanatical followers and we are going in without your magical sister?”

“We’re already here, let’s just take a quick look,” Anna replied, sounding more sure of herself than she actually did.

This time Kristoff sighed. “Got a bad feeling about this.”

They made their way into the castle’s courtyard through the collapsed wall, leaving their horses outside. The courtyard was littered with wreckage of carriages, some with skeletons of horses still attached. The odd human skeleton also decorated the grounds. Bow and sword drawn, Anna and Kristoff sneaked their way to the main entrance. Only one of its tall doors remained, tilted on its hinges. Seeing no one and nothing else alive, they entered.

More skeletons were inside, some near holes in the floor where something apparently pushed through from underneath. They made their way deeper into the keep, into the main hall. The doors her had completely been destroyed. Many skeletal remains were on both sides of the archway. Inside were rows of upturned tables and benches, plates and cutleries abandoned where they had fallen all those years ago. A beam of morning light poured though the collapsed roof and broken windows. There were hundreds more remains of the hall’s last occupants scattered all over the floor.

“This isn’t ‘lots of people died’. This is a massacre,” Anna muttered, imagining the vision Elsa must have seen at Ahtollahan. “She must have been terrified about this happening in Arendelle.”

“There is still jewellery on these bones, nobody even came to loot them,” Kristoff pointed at a particularly shiny necklace a skeleton had around its neck. “Surprising, given how poor people around here are.”

“That means people knew there was an evil sorceress living here and decided not to risk it,” Anna deduced, soliciting a nod of agreement from Kristoff.

Kristoff noticed root and vein like imprints on the walls and ceiling and pointed them out to Anna. Her eyes widened as something clicked in her mind.

“The sorceress is a geomancer! That would explain why nothing grows around here. Like instead of Elsa’s Big Freeze, they got a great die off.”

A they made their way deeper into the hall, they rounded past the roof rubble towards the royal dais. The skeletons on the tables here had more fancy jewellery on and some parts of their expensive clothes survived the years. The finest jewellery belonged to the skeletons near the royal chairs, having fallen off sometime during the intervening years. Near the middle of the dais was a skeleton wearing a greyed white coat and another wearing what was once a fine dress. Anna took Kristoff’s hand into hers as they approached.

“Princess Aurora of Auradon and Prince Phillip of Ulstead,” Anna said solemnly. “Rest in peace.”

Guessing what his Queen must be thinking, Kristoff squeezed Anna’s hand. “We won’t let this happen to Arendelle. Elsa won’t let this happen to our home.”

“Let’s leave this tomb,” Anna said. As she spun around towards the exit something caught her attention. After doing a double take, a grin crept along her face and she pointed to an area behind the late King and Queen’s thrones.

“What am I looking at?” Kristoff asked, not seeing what Anna was pointing at.

“Look closer at the carpet,” Anna explained. “Since no one does any cleaning around here you’d expect everywhere to be super dusty. Which it is, except that patch near the wall right over there.”

“Secret passage?”

“Secret passage, and used in the not too distant past,” Anna said, stepping closer to the swept part of the carpet and tapping the wall. She quickly found what she was looking for and part of the wall opened outward to reveal stairs heading downward. Anna notched an arrow and started down the stairs. When she noticed Kristoff hesitating, she tilted her head forward.

“Come on, honey!”

“I’ve got a…”

“Bad feeling, I know, I know. But we are so close. If we take out the sorceress, half our problems are gone. Then Elsa can freeze the other half into submission if he still wants to fight. No one else would need to get hurt.”

“I guess you stand a slightly better chance with me backing you up,” Kristoff acquiesced, and followed her down.

“Good. Stay frosty.”

They proceeded down the steps. Sunlight streamed in haphazardly though holes in the ceiling, bright enough that they didn’t need to light a torch. The short corridor ended in a relatively large circular room, a mirror of the dais on the floor above. There was a large bed, a dresser with a mirror, a large table and a few chairs. Most of the walls were covered with shelves, filled with books, cases and glass containers filled with various reagents.

Anna and Kristoff rushed the room, bow and sword raised. They carefully circled around the room, on the lookout for traps or hiding places, but found nothing. There was no one home. Anna kicked over a pedestal in frustration, sending the book on it flying.

“Elsa sent us on a wild goose chase!” Anna’s frustration at being froze and left behind by Elsa, again, was bubbling to the surface.

Kristoff picked up the book and flipped the pages. “Maybe there is something useful we can find here. These runes are similar to the Troll’s. I think I can read this.”

“What does it say?” Anna asked as she walked towards the big table and picked up a rock from the small pile on it. It looked like one of the magic absorbing runes Elsa had destroyed. “This could be useful.”

“There is a part about how to prepare these rocks before channeling magic into them.”

“She can also absorb magic too?” Anna asked hurriedly, worried about her sister.

“Apparently magical people have some natural resistance against other magic. So a little magic into the rocks can provide some protection.” Kristoff explained.

Anna thought back to how hard Burni strained Elsa during their short battle without actually doing any damage to each other. “Makes sense.”

“There is also a part about binding magical creatures to objects, like say certain creature into a mirror. Looks like we found the source of all our recent problems.”

“Good to know, but not particularly helpful right now. Elsa might find it useful later,” Anna said as she moved to take a closer look at a shelf filled with weird looking bits of various animals, hobbling slightly from the pain from kicking the pedestal.

“I’ll hang on to it then. How’s your leg?”

“It’s fine. I checked that it wasn’t metal before I kicked it over.” Something clicked in her mind. She took a slow glance around the room. “There is nothing metal in this room. Not even the handles on the cupboards. Everything is here made from wood. As someone who lived in a castle all my life, this is highly unusual for a castle. You think it could be the sorceress’s weakness?”

“Like silver with werewolves? Good thing our weapons are already made from metal then,” Kristoff quipped.

“Ours are, but Elsa’s aren’t. We need to hurry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I hope to finish the story while I'm on COVID-19 lockdown. Thanks for sticking around!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to catch up with what Elsa has been doing during the previous couple of chapters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suffered a case of bad case procrastination recently! Finally got to work on the last few chapters, so this story will be concluded soon. Thanks for waiting!

_**Three days ago…** _

After the arrival of the General Mattias and the Arendellian cavalry, Elsa only stayed for a little while longer at the Northuldran village before taking off on Nokk. Queen or not, Elsa still had an image to maintain. People from both nations looked up to her. She didn’t want them to see her cry. Old habits died hard.

Elsa felt horrible. Dozens of her new Northuldra family. So was Honeymaren, her blood drying on Elsa’s white dress. And all because people had wanted her dead. Many negative emotions filled her, Sorrow, sadness, pain, helplessness, regret and anger. Previously these feelings had contributed to her confining herself to her room and shutting everyone else out, most of all Anna.

Her mind drifted to her long suffering younger sister and the regret she felt for all the barriers she had put up between them. With all the losses Elsa had suffered, she was determined that no harm should come to Anna. After all Anna had very nearly lost her own life just that very morning, to the same people who killed Honeymaren and the other Northuldra. Elsa would not be able to bear the loss of another person she loved.

This time, Elsa did not intend to run away from her problems or hide herself away to keep Anna safe. She wanted to run to the problem and deal with it once and for all. Another magic wielder was after her and had convinced Weselton to assist. Or was it the other way around? And how would she keep Anna from following her into what would likely be the lion’s den? Sending her away or asking her to stay back won’t work, Anna wouldn’t be deterred so easily. And Elsa had proved to herself that she was not capable of protecting the people she loved in the chaos of combat. Maybe she could be directed to somewhere safer instead? Elsa knew that she still needed more information, and directed Nokk to the place she was certain had answers for her.

Nokk slowed down from its supernaturally fast gallop to a trot as they approached the Valley of the Living Rock. The last time Elsa was here, she was nervously seeking information about her unwelcome doppelganger had left with little useful information. Elsa knew the elder troll must know more, and was determined to get her answers.

“Grandpabbie!” Elsa called out to the woods. “If you don’t come out, I’ll ride all the way to the grove with my magic parasite!”

The threat had the desired effect as a mossy rock rolled out of the treeline and unfurled into Grandpabbie.

“Elsa please! Don’t come any closer, you’ll be endangering all of us and our home,” Grandpabbie implored.

“Just tell me what I want to know, and then I’ll be on my way,” Elsa curtly replied.

Grandpabbie sighed in acquiesce after a short moment of thought. “There isn’t much else to add to what I told you the other night. Magic parasites are an uncommon but very dangerous...”

“Not her!” Elsa interrupted. “What do you know about the sorceress who sent her?”

The troll’s grassy eyebrows frowned in concern. “Elsa, remember that the parasite is not a ‘her’ but an ‘it’. How an each individual being perceives it may differ.”

“Hey focus! Answer my question if you want me to go,” Elsa uncharacteristically snapped at the elder troll.

Grandpabbie looked upon Elsa with increasing concern. “We don’t like to discuss those who practice the darker aspects of magic. Even what I know are little more than rumours or reverberations that I feel though the aether.”

“Like something that happened in Auradon years ago?” Elsa supplied. The troll’s grimace at the mention of the location told Elsa that he knew about the event.

“Not all knowledge is useful or even desirable. Even worse is incomplete knowledge as knowing the wrong thing is worse than knowing nothing at all,” Grandpabbie started down a yet another cryptic tangent.

“Just tell me what you think you know then!” groaned Elsa in exasperation. “Otherwise I will, I’ll…” The treat faltered before it even left Elsa’s lips.

Grandpabbie smiled gently, “You are many things Elsa, but you are not one to intentionally harm innocents.” Nodding to Elsa’s still blood stained dress which she had not bothered to clean during the journey, “Despite whatever pain you may have recently endured, you are too pure a person to inflict pain on others."

 ** _Maybe she is, but I’m not,_** Elsa’s doppelganger declared as she stepped out from behind Elsa. Elsa was startled by her visage’s impeccable timing was and briefly pondered how much control she really had when it came to materialising herself.

As the raven haired apparition sauntered over to Grandpabbie, Elsa was taken aback by the amount fear conveyed through the troll’s eyes. Nevertheless the elder troll held his ground as the doppelganger walked around him, playfully caressing his shoulders as she passed.

 ** _Hmmm, powerful magic flows within you. Much more than you let on. Maybe I should stick with you instead,_** her voice was similar to Elsa’s yet different in an unsettling way. Rigidly holding his staff with both hands, Grandpabbie caught Elsa’s eyes and desperately gave her a pleading look.

Clearing her throat Elsa simply stated, “Just tell me what I want to know and we’ll be on our way.”

“What I know is little more than conjecture and rumour,” Grandpabbie continued to protest. Just then Elsa’s doppelganger stood behind the troll and placed her hands on his shoulders and took a deep breath from the grass crown that he wore. The action seemingly drained magic from Grandpabbie causing him to shudder and sag upon his staff.

“Alright, alright! Make her leave me alone and I’ll tell you what I know!”

Elsa motioned with her head to the patch of grass in front of her. When the other woman didn’t respond, Elsa repeated the gesture more forcefully until the apparition walked over, not before running her hand through Grandpabbie’s grass crown once more.

“Now spill,” Elsa commanded.

Once again Elsa fled Arendelle castle across the fjord in the dead of night, heading towards the North Mountain. This time though, she glided above the water as Nokk raced towards her ice palace. Her thoughts circled back to the fateful night of her coronation. Again she was convinced that her current action was in the best interests of Arendelle in general and Anna specifically. Again she felt guilt for leaving Anna behind with her fiancée, although she approved of Kristoff much more than Hans. The added deception of freezing Anna in her room after allowing her to think that she was considering heading off to Auradon nagged in her mind. At least Anna would be safe whatever she decided to do. If she headed off to Auradon, it would deserted. If she headed to the Weseltonaian capital, she’d have a literal army around her to keep her safe. Elsa knew it was just an excuse to keep Anna away, so that she wouldn’t see what she had to do next. Or stop her from doing it. The Duke hired the mercenaries that killed the person she loved. The sorceress was in league with him. They both had to die. 

The dark haired woman that only Elsa could see stared, slack jawed at her ice palace. It seemed to Elsa that her doppelganger looked somewhat better over the past day. Her skin that had been pallid now had some colour and her facial features had softened to the point she might be considered beautiful. Elsa wondered if the improvement was at her expense.

“You look different, has anything changed? You had better not have hurt Grandpabbie with your stunt,” Elsa declared.

 ** _I just took a whiff of his magical scent. I haven’t changed, maybe how you see me has?_** she answered without looking away from Elsa’s rebuilt first creation. **_Wow look at the size of it! How long did it take for you to build it?_**

“Just a few minutes,” Elsa coyly replied. She was proud of her ice palace, after all. A more cautious part of her mind nevertheless noted the topic change.

 ** _And the magic remains even after you cast it? Your power is incredible, unlimited!_** the doppelganger marvelled as they moved up the ice stairway to the main doors. **_You should be unstoppable in battle! What gives?_**

Elsa had pondered the question before. Until recently she had never intended to hurt anyone with her powers. Even when the Duke of Weselton’s men had cornered her in this very castle, she didn’t deliver a killing blow that she could easily have done. This was when she had very little control over her powers too, so she suspected that her years of fear of harming Anna or her parents had subconsciously kept her powers in check. But something has now changed within her, something was not the same.

Instead of explaining her long thought process, Elsa simply answered, “I’m a creator, not a killer.”

**_You can’t afford to hold back when we face the whole Weseltoian army. You need to let yourself go._ **

_She has a point,_ Elsa conceded to herself. _Too late for second guessing now, I’ll need to trust my instincts - the kind that almost cost Anna’s life. No! I control my magic, not the other way around._

The sight of her bugbear pushing open the large doors to her ice place startled her out of her contemplation. “How did you do that?” Elsa’s question sounded like an accusation.

The dark haired woman grinned mischievously back at Elsa. There was an unnerving familiarity, almost sisterly, to the expression. **_I didn’t open it, you did._**

Elsa glanced and found that her right hand was open palmed, having completed the gesture. Grimacing in irritation, Elsa retorted, “I told you to stop doing that!”

 ** _You should be paying more attention,_** her reply echoed in Elsa’s head as she smugly entered the open door into the ice palace with Elsa a few paces behind.

Inside the main room, surrounding a frozen fountain were Marshmallow and dozens of Snowgies, all of whom looked upon the newcomer with silent suspicion. As magical creatures themselves, they could see the intruder as well.

“Who are you?” Marshmallow bellowed.

Elsa spoke first, “Don’t mind her, she’s just a magic parasite I inadvertently picked up.”

**_Excuse you! I’ve been very helpful AND saved your life a couple of times. If you insist on using biological terms, I’m a symbiont._ **

“You sure you’re not consuming my life force or draining my magic?” Elsa wagged a finger accusingly.

 ** _I’ve told you that it’s in my own interest to keep you safe. You’re powerful and I’d like to stick with you._** Turning towards Marshmallow, **_This one…_**

“Marshmallow,” Elsa supplied.

**_Fine, Marshmallow here would be useful in a fight but these…_ **

“Snowgies.”

**_You named them Marshmallow and Snowgies? Is your mental age six or something?_ **

Elsa thought about explaining that she did in fact create Marshmallow at a similar age but didn't want to share too much. She decided on a snarky reply instead. “They’re travel sized. It would be hard to sneak into Weselton with a whole troop of Marshmallow sized snowmen following us wouldn’t it?”

 ** _As long as they become fight sized when we reach the city._ **Elsa’s snow creations looked upon their conversation intently, aware that they were the topic of discussion.

“She looks like you, is she your sister too like Anna? What’s her name?” Marshmallow asked Elsa pointing towards the black haired woman.

“She doesn’t remember her name so she doesn’t have one for now,” Elsa answered as a brace of curious Snowgies noisily approached the other woman. Elsa moved to stand in between them, waving them back. “Don’t get too close, she could be dangerous,” Elsa warned her disappointed creations.

“Dangerous Elsa… Delsa,” Marshmallow contemplated.

“No! No, no no no. Don’t butcher my name like that,” Elsa interjected.

“ _Delsa, Delsa_ ,” the chorus of Snowgies chirped as they started to swarm around Elsa towards the newly christened Delsa, who crackled manically at Elsa’s expense.

 ** _That’s a good name, I might even keep it after I remember my real one!_ **Delsa teased.

Elsa squeezed the bridge of her nose. _It’s going to be a long road to Weselton…_

Anna and Kristoff approached the Weseltonian capital from the south, amidst an increasing heavy throng of refugees heading away from the city. The scared civilians paid them no notice as they fled the city with whatever belongings they could carry or drag. Tired and weary after two days of non-stop riding, they nevertheless persisted towards the city.

“Why are people running south? It looks like the whole city is heading this way,” Kristoff complained. “The army should be approaching east so logically you would run in the opposite direction.”

“That means Elsa is coming from the west. She probably froze the sea to the north as well judging by how scared these people are,” Anna deduced.

“Yea that sounds like her, scaring everyone away so they don’t get caught in the crossfire,” Kristoff agreed. Sure enough, as they got closer to the city, there was an unnatural chill in the air. Cold enough to stoke the fear of the city’s populace of an incoming Snow Queen, but not enough to do any actual harm.

By the time they reached the city’s southern gate, the flow of its residents streaming out became a flood. Trying to go in the opposite direction at the bottleneck was slow going, even after they managed to shove their way through the portal. Increasingly frustrated and looking for a faster way through the crowd, Anna glanced around and then upwards towards rooftops.

“Why don’t we take the high way?” Anna suggested.

Kristoff looked up at the closely packed 2 or 3-storied buildings lining the city’s poorer neighbourhoods. Anna’s climbing skills had improved markedly since they first met on the North Mountain 4 years ago, but their urban exploring skills were out of practise and he didn’t want to risk her getting herself injured. Before he could say anything, Anna had stood up on her horse and pulled herself up onto the nearby building’s roof. 

“Come on!” she said as she disappeared from view. The rooftops did seem to be the much faster route and he hauled himself up and started after his fiancée. He spotted her already two rooftops away, jumping over a narrow alley, the orange setting sun making her blowing strawberry blonde hair appear fiery.

“I forgot how much fun freeruning is!” Anna exclaimed. For a moment, she was a carefree Princess again, with Elsa in charge and a new boyfriend at her side. “Why did we stop?”

“Because Elsa banned us from running around Arendelle after you fell off a roof and broke your wrist in front of half the town,” Kristoff replied, grimacing as Anna stumbled after landing less than perfectly but barely slowing down. Incidentally it was the only physical activity Elsa had explicitly banned them from doing. Kristoff knew she sometimes missed those simpler times, but had since embraced her new role wholeheartedly and would not have done it any differently if given the chance.

“Oh right,” Anna muttered as she dodged a clothesline and sidestepped a stack of baskets. Even as darkness began to fall, Anna kept up her quick pace, dodging and weaving between hazards and obstacles, the increasingly poor visibility not slowing her down. Every complaint that Kristoff made after Anna tripped or stumbled ignored as he exerted himself to keep up.

“Slow down, it’s not a race!”

“That’s cause you’re losing!”

They kept to the rooftops even as the streets below became deserted, all the way until they reached the last row of houses before the palace walls. They found the palace to still be surrounded by civilians, apparently trying to get into the courtyard and the apparent safety it provided. 

Kristoff surveyed the castle, not seeing any easy way in. The main and secondary had crowds trying to get in, but guards kept a close watch. Possible as they should be able to blend in with the crowd, but he was sure they would likely get funnelled wherever they were holding the refugees and be trapped there. Still it was a way in and maybe they could find something once inside. Scaling the walls was an option too, but risky as lack of cover would only take one alert sentry to apprehend two very valuable prisoners. Maybe the cover of darkness could suffice and they could have a very welcome hour or so of rest in the meantime. Suddenly a small outer section of the wall moved and a group of well-dressed people beat a hasty retreat, seemingly changing their mind about staying put. Kristoff saw that Anna was already looking at that part of the wall.

“Thought so!” Anna said triumphantly. “Now we just need to find a way down.” Anna peered off the ledge of roof they were on and spotted something she could use.

“Haystack,” Anna simply said. Realising what she intended to do, Kristoff reached out to grab her but was to slow.

“Anna, no!”

“Anna, yes!” Her grin evident in her voice, Anna launched herself, spread eagled, off the roof as Kristoff watched in horror. He darted for the ledge, fully expecting to find his beloved queen a pile of broken bones after a three storey fall. He was both surprised and relived when Anna bounced out from the haystack, apparently unscathed save for a few clinging blades of straw.

“Come on down, it’s like falling into snow!” Anna cheerfully called back up. Not willing to take a leap of faith, Kristoff scurried down the side of the wall to the ground where she was tapping her feet in mock impatience. They made their way to the palace wall where Anna started tapping the surface. Before long, she found what she was looking for before long and part of the wall opened inward.

“It’s almost like everyone used the same designer,” Anna quipped.

“Is there one like this in back home too? I didn’t know that.”

“You’re right, you don’t know,” Anna teased as she stepped into the open portal. The escaping party had conveniently left a lit torch behind, which was requisitioned by Kristoff to light their way into the labyrinth.

Between Kristoff’s tracking skills and Anna’s familiarly with castles, they navigated their way into back the castle and after a few minutes reached a door with light coming from the other side. Moving the door as quietly as possible, Anna took a quick peek. She saw a deserted landing with storage rooms on either side, connected to a landing that led into the castle proper.

“Storage rooms, coast looks clear,” Anna reported to her fiancée. “That last group looked to be rich enough to bribe any guards here to be somewhere else as they made their escape.”

“Maybe there weren’t any guards since it’s a secret passage?” suggested Kristoff as he closed the door behind him.

“You’ll post someone and tell them to guard the stuff in storage. Either that or you’ll put some…”

Anna’s speech was interrupted by the sensation of falling as the false floor beneath her fell open.

Before she hit the ground, Anna completed her thought. _Traps…_


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elsa finally comes face to face with the evil sorceress!

Elsa circled the Weseltonian capital from the north, freezing an ice bridge for herself as she trotted on Nokk over the city’s coastline. She purposely did this in full view of its residents with Marshmallow and the Snowgies following closely behind. Even from the distance, Elsa could see that her display was having her desired effect, the Weseltonian garrison was scrambling to from their prepared positions to protect the city from her and that people were starting to flee the city. This would allow the Arendellian army will be able to have an easier time marching to the city and that less innocents would be caught in the crossfire. Or in Elsa’s case, icefire.

Coming back ashore on the western side of the city, Elsa waited as the smaller Snowgies wadded up onshore.

 **_Don’t you think it’s about time you did something about the Snowgies?_** asked Delsa, gesturing to the little ice creations as some of them struggled against the waves to get ashore. 

Elsa supposed she did have a point. Elsa lifted and waved her hands and her and a snow flurry appeared, enveloping the dozens of Snowgies. When the snow cleared, the Snowgies had enlarged into human sized versions of themselves. Elsa surveyed her work with an approving smile as the Snowgies experimented playfully with their new dimensions. Elsa turned to her doppelganger, who looked decidedly unimpressed.

 ** _Is this seriously the best you can do?_** she said, an arm waving dismissively at the small Snowgie army. An arm which had a skin tone only a couple of shades paler than her own, Elsa noticed. **_Look at their faces! Totally non-threatening. Soldiers will look at them and want to hug them! Can’t you make them look more wicked?_**

Elsa sighed but had to acknowledge the point. Even a rock giant with a Snowgie’s cute face would appear perfectly friendly. After a few moments of frowning thought, Elsa had an idea, and waved her hand. The Snowgie’s bottom halves were enlarged so that their dimensions were unsettlingly disproportionate. She made them sport large snowflakes on their chests, as though they had sworn allegiance to winter itself. Their happy faces were each replaced with an unemotional fractal snowflake. Elsa felt disgusted with herself for even being able to conceive what she just did. 

**_A faceless, emotionless magical snowman. That’s more I like it._ **

Elsa shuddered as she felt a little more of herself die inside.

At the head of the Weseltonian garrison hastily getting into position was someone Elsa recognised. General Aximand from the bridge meeting with the Duke. It was barely a week ago but to Elsa it felt like a lifetime had passed. Certainly enough pain to fill one had occurred.

Elsa announced her arrival by creating a light, foreboding snowfall over the opposing army. It was too late in the season for snow, so everybody knew this was no natural event. Men looked up at the slowly falling flurries and shivered, both from the drop in temperature and in anticipation of the person who caused it.

After a few minutes which Elsa hoped was plenty for the soldiers to consider their mortality, she motioned Nokk forward, making sure her mount made a sufficiently terrifying bray. She led her small snowman army out from the treeline, close to the city’s western gate. Facing her were hundreds, if not thousands of red-clad Weseltonian troops nervously clutching their weapons.

The first thing they saw were a pair of glowing sapphire eyes, followed by an ethereally beautiful water horse, matched only by the platinum blonde figure riding it. All the while, the sloshing sounds of the approaching faceless snowmen filled the twilight air.

General Aximand could sense his troops wavering. Young for the position he held, he managed to edge out far more senior officers with both his connections and capabilities. One of which was he oratory skills.

“Brave soldiers of Weselton, tonight we face our greatest and most glorious endeavour! Tonight we fight not only for our families, our homes, our country, but for the whole of Europe! No, tonight we fight for Western civilisation as we know it! For if this unnatural monster prevails tonight, no God fearing man, woman or child would be safe!” he began his rallying speech.

 ** _He seems to know what he is doing, we need to kill him quickly and as brutally as possible,_** a familiar voice whispered into Elsa mind. Elsa agreed with the dark reflection of herself this time. She justified herself by reasoning that the general’s death would cause his army to break and flee, thereby reducing the people she would have to hurt to get to the palace.

“So tonight we stand for the Grand Duke! We stand for Weselton! Most importantly we stand for each other! For tonight we stand against a _monster_!”

Elsa hated being called that. Especially after all the heartbreak and loss that she had suffered the past week. She unexpectedly felt herself fill with rage she didn’t even know she had.

“You want a monster? **_I’ll show you a monster_**!” Elsa yelled in a voice that was not entirely her own. She shot an ice bolt from her palm, for once intentionally aiming for the heart. The blue bolt stuck true, knocking the Weseltonian general off his horse and simultaneously freezing him. When his frozen figure hit the ground, it loudly shattered into many small pieces.

Elsa took advantage of the stunned silence.

“Soldiers of Weselton! My quarrel is neither with you nor your families. Your leaders have committed many crimes against Arendelle, my family and myself. They alone need to answer to me. Leave now and be spared an unnecessary death!” Elsa used magic to amplify her voice so that all could hear her.

Some shuffling among the ranks of soldiers facing her caught her attention. Sure enough there were people deserting their ranks. Elsa breathed a sigh of relief, her cold calculation had paid off and her conscience was somewhat intact. The general’s death would spare hundreds of his soldier’s lives.

A shot rang out from the one of the rows of men. Elsa flinched and was about to cast an ice barrier to shield herself before she realised that she was not being targeted. More shots rang out in amongst the ranks arrayed in front of her and she realised to her horror what was happening. Weseltonian officers were preventing their men from leaving with force.

 ** _Huh. And they call us the monster,_** Delsa dryly remarked.

With the confusion of their general being killed and deserters being shot out of hand, the Weseltonian officers had to make a grand gesture before chaos could take further hold. So they cajoled their soldiers forward, towards Elsa and her snowmen.

Elsa’s heart sank. She now knew for a fact that there were reluctant soldiers facing her, and she knew she had to hurt a lot of people to get through to her target.

 **_Not having second thoughts now are you? We’ve come so far, you can even see the keep from here._ **

“Indeed we have,” Elsa replied, cold determination returning to her voice.

She brought Nokk from a trot to a gallop and then to a supernaturally fast charge, leaving the Weseltonian soldiers little time to react. The few shots loosed at the charging blonde were easily deflected by her increasingly proficient ice barriers.

With both hands she summoned her magic and shot a bright, blue light ahead of her. Ice struck the ground and created a frozen path all the way to the city gate, freezing the scores unfortunate enough to be in the way.

Panicked soldiers shot at her as she rode by, more often than not hitting their own comrades, both frozen and flesh, in the crossfire than Elsa’s ice barriers. Elsa didn’t intentionally trample over Weseltonian soldiers, but made no effort to avoid them. She sent icy blue streaks of magic as she stormed through the ranks, trying to aim for the officers keeping cohesion but none too concerned if lowly soldiers got frozen or impaled instead.

Behind her, Marshmallow swept half a dozen men off their feet with each swing of its ice club. The smaller Snowgies were not able to match their larger brethren’s performance but were similarly immune to Weseltonian weapons. Shot passed through them harmlessly and dismembered limbs were quickly reattached to the bewilderment and horror of the soldiers facing them. 

Leaving the melee behind, Elsa continued charging forward. She had expected but so far encountered none of the magic absorbing runes that had been the bane of her recent existence. Elsa pondered if it was arrogance or hubris that made the Grand Duke and his government leave their own capital so underdefended. Had they been so sure of the magic mirror or subsequent assassination attempts to remove her from the playing board? Elsa suspected that the sorceress they had been colluding with must not be telling them the full story.

In her short lapse of concentration, Elsa failed to notice a large armoured knight until he launched himself at her. His lance was denied a fatal blow only by millimetres of hastily summoned ice that deflected the blade, but the force was enough to knock Elsa off her mount. Sent rolling on the ground, Elsa managed to raise her hands up just in time to summon ice spikes that skewered the next member of the Weseltonian Household Calvary that came charging at her.

Winded by the fall, Elsa had only moments to gather her wits. From a crouch, and then slowly getting to her feet, Elsa summoned icicle after icicle that pierced each man and beast that bore down on her. The ornate armour of the Grand Duke’s personal bodyguards offered little resistance to her black, almost obsidian ice. Rumours of their brutality in suppressing peasant revolts were well known in Arendelle, and Elsa felt a perverse sense of justice as she meted out their punishment.

In moments, the entire mounted force was spent against Elsa’s ice. Calming down from her momentary bloodlust, she surveyed the carnage around her. Weselton’s elite guard lay bloody and broken before her while discipline among the common rank and file had shattered as they started deserting the field. Absently she raised an arm behind her, shooting ice that impaled the horseman that knocked her off who had returned with vain hopes of attacking her exposed back.

 ** _You’re welcome,_** Elsa’s doppelganger grinned to her host. Elsa lips crept upwards as she returned the gesture with a smile. Maybe it was the frustration of getting knocked off Nokk or it was the combat adrenaline but Elsa couldn’t help but feel some exhilaration coming from the power of ending the lives of her latest attackers. 

With another quick gesture, Nokk was called back and mounted. They quickly closed the remaining distance to the city walls just in time to have the doors shut in her face.

 _So that’s how it feels like,_ Elsa thought as she felt irritation bubble at the sight of the closed gate. Perhaps it was the manifestation of the bottled up regret of doing the same to Anna for years up until the present. She could have made herself a ramp for Nokk to jump over the obstacle. Instead she raised both her hands and ice formed on the gatehouse in response. The sudden frost caused a thermal shock that spawned fissures in the masonry which ice quickly filled. Elsa slammed her hands back down and the whole structure complied, crashing down along with the connecting walls. The few defenders still on the parapet ran for their lives, but several were not fast enough and fell screaming to their deaths amid shattering rock and ice.

Elsa flinched at the repressed memory but quickly recovered, and rode on into the Weseltonian capital.

General Mattias rode at the vanguard of the Arendellian army, and was almost upon the city’s eastern walls but had yet to encounter a single Weseltonian defender. They passed several abandoned defensive positions that he was sure would have cost his army time and blood to overcome. He could hear some fighting in the distance and was sure this was Princess Elsa’s promised distraction, and hoped that no further harm would come to royal sisters that he had the privilege of serving.

Finally he spotted movement ahead of him, red-clad Weseltonian soldiers running quickly to face the invading army. His trained eye saw that the noted that the soldiers facing him were disorganised but moving frantically to stop his troops. All the while he arranged the lead company of his men to face the threat, intending to fully take advantage of the situation before the enemy could be reorganised into a coherent unit.

“First Rank! Fire!” Mattias commanded, and gunfire thundered in response. Dozens of Weseltonian soldiers crumpled to the ground, but the rest continued to run towards the Arendellians. The second volley felled more than the first, yet more Weseltonians continued to press forward.

Initially impressed by the tenaciousness of his enemy, Mattias soon felt that something was wrong. Amid the smoke and darkness he strained to take a second look. On the closer inspection, he noticed that most of the Weseltonian soldiers running his way were not armed and began to realise that they were not running towards him, but rather running from something else.

“Cease fire! Cease fire!,” Mattias called. The Arendellian fire slackened as the order was relayed down the line. As Mattias expected, the Weseltonian soldiers quickly surrendered. Worriedly, he couldn’t help but wonder what was Elsa doing that would cause Weseltonian soldiers willingly to run into his men's waiting guns.

The road to the Grand Duke’s palace was largely deserted, with residents having already left or in hiding. Only the occasion stunned cry pierced the otherwise silent ride. She found the palace gates wide open, apparently pushed in by desperate civilians looking to shelter within the keep. Some bodies and blood on the road indicated that the guards had used deadly force before apparently deserting their posts as none were left to be seen.

Dismounting Nokk in front of the main doors of the Weseltonion palace, Elsa moved in cautiously only to find the reception hall as deserted as the courtyard had been. Other than a few knocked over bits of furniture, the interior of the building seemed to be in order. Valuable items and artwork were left unlooted. Despite being seemingly alone in the cavernous building, Elsa felt trepidation as she wandered deeper into the palace. The sense of wrongness and dread only increased as she progressed farther.

“Do you feel that?” Elsa asked aloud, not really expecting an answer.

 ** _Yes,_** her companion answered, but without the force or confidence Elsa had expected of her. Elsa turned to face her increasingly accepted companion and found her hunched forwards with her arms across her chess.

“What’s the matter with you? Finally getting some memories back? Or is your master calling out to you?” Elsa probed, taken aback at how shrivelled up the visage was, especially considering how she was just a few minutes prior.

**_No… no none of that. I just have this feeling of dread. You know what? I think we’ve done enough for tonight. I’m sure no one will mess with you and your family for a long time to come! Let’s go home! To Arendelle or Northuldra? Either? Both! It doesn’t matter!_ **

“Coward,” Elsa sneered in reply, the venom in her voice even taking herself by surprise. She raised a hand in apology. “I feel it too. We’re getting closer aren’t we? Come on, _Delsa_ , you were the one excited for this. No backing out now.”

The pull was similar to what Elsa had felt when she was called to Ahtollahan, but far more insidious. She followed the feeling deeper into the palace, towards the senate room. She easily dispatched some guards she finally came across with quick flicks of her wrist, impaling them on icicles. As she got closer to the Weseltonian seat of government, increasingly loud panicked voices could be heard.

Ready to unleash her powers, Elsa rounded the corner to the last corridor to her objective. Instead of finding a final line of defence, she faced a large group of civilians now trapped between her and barricaded doors. Many were well dressed, others wore more common attire. Most were women and children, evidently not qualified to shelter with Weselton’s leaders behind the doors. 

The crowd quieted down as they registered Elsa’s presence and turned to her in fear. Elsa scanned the group looking for any threats, maybe a hidden soldier or guard in the crowd. All she saw were petrified civilians, seeing the object of their worst nightmares manifested before them. Still Elsa felt that it was too big a risk to take. A hidden blade could easily thwart her so close to her goal.

Almost mechanically, she raised her arm, her magic building up as she prepared to unleash it. The crowd, realising what was about to happen, cowered further before her. One teenaged girl, rich enough to be well dressed but not enough to be to be on the other side of the door, wailed in terror. The high pitch was enough to break into Elsa’s consciousness. Having been snapped out of her current action, Elsa paused in horror as she realised what she had almost done.

“Did you really almost make me do this?!” she snapped angrily, but her shadow wasn’t present. That was even worse, it meant she was doing it herself. The confused crowd recoiled further at Elsa outburst. Elsa reigned in her feelings with a deep breath.

“My argument is not with you, but with the cowards hiding behind those doors. Leave, now!” Elsa barked, but the terrified crowd didn’t move. She flung out an arm, shooting her magic at and freezing a section of the wall and bellowed, “Go now, or I’ll kill you all where you stand.”

The threat of death had the desired effect and people started scampering away, running past Elsa and back out of the corridor. However a few of the better dressed people still remained. Elsa approached them slowly, and she could see that they were terrified. She addressed the oldest of the group, the girl that had screamed previously.

“Why are you still here? Go away,” Elsa said to the shivering teen, with younger children cowering behind her.

“Our… our fathers are in… inside. We wanted them to let us in,” the teen nervously replied.

Elsa felt a new level of contempt for Weselton’s leaders, in her mind accusing them of either seeking safety for only themselves or had ruthlessly left their own children outside as human shields. She didn’t consider the less malicious possibility that the children had left their allotted shelters in search of their fathers. Shaking her head in disgust, Elsa conjured a block of ice behind the juveniles and used it to quite forcefully push them out of the corridor. Ignoring their cries for their parents, Elsa erected an ice wall sealing the corridor off.

Now in front of the sealed senate room, Elsa placed her hands on the heavy doors, intending the freeze the wood and then shattering it. She was not surprised to find her magic being dulled by something or someone on the other side, causing her ice to dissipate. Instead it was confirmation that her quarry, the other sorceress was within. With renewed focus and determination, Elsa channelled her power and her frost spread across the door. When she won and her ice covered the whole frame, and with a hard pound, the door shattered.

Elsa entered the semi-circular hall amongst the descending rows of seats. At the centre of the hall was a raised platform where the various leaders of the duchies would seat. Currently it was dominated by a black clad, middle aged woman with horns on her heads and a orb topped staff in her hands. Behind her, the Grand Duke and various high ranked officials practically cowered before Elsa’s presence. Light blue runes were carved in various places on the walls and even some furniture, but for some reason these didn’t affect Elsa’s magic as strongly as the others she had encountered.

“What are you waiting for? Kill her now!” the Grand Duke yelled, fear in his voice clear.

Ignoring the short man, the sorceress addressed Elsa. “I’ve spent decades looking for someone as powerful as you, Elsa. How great to finally meet you.”

Elsa felt anger bubbling up within her. “All those people died just so you could meet me?! You could have found me in the enchanted forest and settled it there!”

“I didn’t want to meet that Elsa, she hadn’t even hurt anyone on purpose. You on the other hand, are precisely who I want to meet,” replied the sorceress.

“Maleficent! What are you doing? This isn’t the deal we agreed!” the hapless Grand Duke of Weselton protested.

“I am removing the Snow Queen from the equation as you wanted,” sneered Maleficent. “Now bring out the prisoner, since you worked so hard getting her here.”

The Grand Duke huffed his displeasure and briefly considered asserting his authority, but then realising how powerless he actually was compared to the two magic wielders, just nodded his acquiescence. He motioned to a couple of guards and they pulled a bound and gagged strawberry blonde young lady from behind a table.

“Anna, no!” Elsa exclaimed. Remembering her court training and swiftly concealing her feelings, she attempted to recover. “Well I’m here now. I suppose you have an agenda to discuss?” she said in a remarkably assertive and even tone.

Maleficent crackled with laughter as the guards handed their prisoner over to her. “Indeed I do have something to discuss, but first one final gift. To release you from the weakness of love.” The orb on Maleficent’s staff began to with power as she jabbed it into her prisoner’s back. Elsa could only stare in stunned horror as dark, dirty light flowed from Maleficent’s staff into its victim, making her skin pale and shrivel until she collapsed down the stairs.

Elsa rushed forward to the redhead’s lifeless body, with tears streaking down her face. The body was hot to the touch and Elsa the face was so disfigured that Elsa could barely recognise that it once belonged to her sister.

Now looking younger as her staff transferred the life force to her, Maleficent grinned evilly at the grieving Elsa. “Now we can talk.”

Elsa stood up slowly and looked up at Maleficent and the rest of the Weseltonians who had emerged from behind their cover to witness Elsa’s pain. She could feel her magic flowing though her body, straining for release.

_Let it go. And let them have it._

Channelling all her feelings of lost and anger into her powers, Elsa summoned a circular pattern of spikes around her and shot blue magic from her hands at the other sorceress. Maleficent responded with dark magic from her staff and roots that emerged to block the encroaching icicles.

The runes in the roomed glowed as both sorceress unleashed their powers as Maleficent slowly pushed back Elsa’s magic and ice. Sure he was about to witness the demise of the hated Queen of Arendelle, the Grand Duke of Weselton started laughing, soon joined by the rest of his cronies. Nervously at first, but with increasing confidence as the tide turned against Elsa.

Grimacing at the exertion of holding back Maleficent’s magic, Elsa was teetering at the edge of capitulation. She allowed herself to think of what would happen after her defeat. How fairly would Weselton treat Arendelle? Would this dark sorceress pillage Northuldra for every bit of magic it contained? How much would both her people suffer under their new rulers?

Faces of people she would no longer be able to protect from both lands filled Elsa’s mind’s eye. Kai, Greda, Yelena, Ryder, Mattias, Oaken, the list went on. _Is Kristoff even still alive? No way they would have gotten Anna if he was_. She thought of her sister laying dead in front of her, denied her future. Elsa then thought of Honeymaren, and how they were robbed of a future they had just started to build. Two of Elsa’s families, both snuffed out when until a week ago had only joy and happiness to look forward too.

Elsa’s magic is powered by her emotions, and thinking about the loves that she had lost gave Elsa reserves of power that she didn’t know she had. The runes around the room fizzled and burned out as Elsa’s magic started pushing Maleficent’s back. The Weseltonian laughter ceased as the ice spikes got ever closer. With one stomp of her feet and a cry of anger and determination, Elsa destroyed the remaining runes.

Free from their restraints, blue magic impacted Maleficent, sending her flying backwards. Icicles accelerated and impaled every last Weseltonian on the dais. A powerful gust of wind swept through the room, shattering stained glass windows and sending furniture tumbling.

Breathing heavily, Elsa collapsed to her knees. Now that it was over, she let the tears flow again. Elsa barely registered the dark purple streak of magic before pain exploded across her chest. Ignoring the pain as best she could, she stumbled backwards behind some seats, and managed to raise her arms to shoot more ice bolts at Maleficent. Aside from the pain, Elsa was pleasantly surprised that her body still responded to her mind’s commands.

“Dearie, you should know by now magic doesn’t work too well against other sorcerers,“ taunted Maleficent, with one hand over her middle and the other aiming her staff at Elsa. Both sorceresses traded bolts, with purple and blue steaks of magical light illuminating the charnel house in unlight. Each hit Elsa landed that failed to incapacitate Maleficent added to her frustration while each she suffered added to her pain and anger, all these heightened negative emotions powering arcane barrage. Missed shots coated the walls with jagged ice or entwining roots. Elsa's advantage of being able use both her hands to project her powers while Maleficent had to use her staff began to tell. The dark sorceress started withering under the constant barrage of hits.

“Then I will finish it the old fashioned way,” Elsa pronounced as she picked up the wooden frame of a broken piece of furniture. Elsa stepped forward as another well aimed ice bolt brought Maleficent to her knees. Sprinting to close the gap and with an impressive cry, Elsa swung at Maleficent. Still getting back on her feet, Maleficent barely managed to block Elsa’s first swing with her staff, but the second impacted the side of Maleficent’s head, knocking her to the floor. With her quarry dazed, Elsa pulled the staff from its owner’s limp grasp. Elsa continued her onslaught in a red haze, releasing all her pent up anger and frustration, striking blow after blow on the increasingly defenceless Maleficent.

“Yes… Finish it,” a bloodied Maleficent inexplicitly muttered as Elsa raised the staff up for a finishing blow. The odd statement managed to pierce Elsa’s consciousness and caused her to pause. Before she could contemplate any further, an arrow grazed her thigh causing her to flinch in pain and surprise.

“GET OFF MY SISTER!” a new voiced yelled from the broken doorway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more to go!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally the last chapter! We see how Anna ended up in the senate room and the conclusion of the battle between Elsa and Maleficent. Some description of violence and death will occur.

_A few minutes earlier..._

Anna opened her eyes. Kristoff’s torch’s glow was enough to reveal that they had fallen through a false floor and were now in an 8 foot deep pit that spanned the width of the hallway. Anna wiped a thin line of blood flowing out of her brow and struggled to her feet. Kristoff still lay face down, motionless except for the rise and fall of his chest, with his right leg in an awkward position.

“Kristoff,” hissed Anna as she crawled over, trying to shake him awake. Her own arms burned in pain where they had broken her fall but she was otherwise unhurt by the fall. She carefully straightened out his leg and then rolled him onto his back where she noticed blood coming from a gash on his forehead. Taking out a handkerchief, she dabbed the wound and then tied the cloth around it. 

Anna found her rapier and holstered it. Somebody would be coming to check what had been caught in the trap soon, and they would be defenceless if all of them were caught in the pit. She jumped for the lip, trying but failing to catch any hand or footholds.

Trying again with a running start, Anna was able to get a good hold on the ledge and with her feet kicking against the pit wall for any grip it could offer, she managed to propel herself upwards and roll onto the hallway floor as 3 figures entered at the far end. She drew her rapier as she got to her feet, right arm outstretched to the new arrivals.

“My my my, look what we have here! Queen Anna herself!” laughed Prince Hans as he entered with a couple of guards. He alone was a wearing a silver cuirass that gleamed orange off the reflected torchers in the hallway while the other two wore normal Weseltonian red.

Anna wasn’t impressed and only mildly to meet her ex-fiancée in the bowels of the Weseltonian palace. She had suspected the Weseltonians were getting help from someone who was familiar with Arendelle, and the list of people who would do that was very short.

“Brought friends this time Hans? I’ll guess my punch left an impression huh? What's your plan to take the throne this time?” taunted Anna as the tip of her blade traced an arc from one advancing henchmen to the other, their own swords drawn.

“That's for me to know and you to find out,” answered Hans, “but your current concern should be regarding what is about to happen to you. Seize her!”

The two guards complied and began to advance on Anna, wicked grins on their faces.

“Do you even know how to use that?” teased the closer henchman as he approached Anna. “Drop it now before you accidentally cut yourself, little lady.”

The closer man barely registered the flick of Anna’s rapier when suddenly he noticed that his swordhand involuntarily moving downwards and to his side, leaving his face unprotected when Anna’s ornate hiltguard smashed into his face. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

The second man’s eyes and mouth were round with confusion and only got bigger and rounder as Anna took the two strides required to close the gap and lunged her blade into his gut. He instinctively swung his own blade as his assailant but Anna’s withdrawn blade easily parried the clumsy blow. Stepping quickly back to the door and clutching his bloody wound, he looked and Prince Hans pleadingly.

“Fine, get out of my sight! I’ll take care of her myself,” scoffed Hans as he gripped the golden and gem studded hilt of his longsword with both his hands and into an attacking stance. “You would be more beneficial alive, but I will gain much pleasure from cutting you down, _Queen._ ”

With her left hand, Anna drew her dagger, twirling it around in her grip before pointing both her blades at the other redhead.

“Bring it.”

Hans attacked first with a confident two-handed downward blow. He was surprised when Anna’s dagger met his blade and redirected his sword aside to create an opening for her rapier to strike his right thigh. He barely sidestepped the lunge in time, gaining a painful scratch instead an immobilising hit.

Anna pressed her advantage, moving to his unprotected left flank, dodging the upward thrust of Hans’s longsword while successfully connecting to Hans’s upper arm. Hans grunted in pain and swung his sword one handed towards Anna, forcing her back to dodge. Another swing was met with her dagger and her rapier to his thigh. Grimacing in pain, Hans took a couple of quick steps back to disengage. An unwelcome thought crept into his mind, _She is good enough beat me._

 _This is do-able_ , smirked Anna internally at about the same time. Her mind churned to assess the opposition. Hans’s strikes were well practiced and therefore predictable. His main advantage was his cuirass, that covered his upper body. Anna could try to aim for his head, but it was a small target and a miss could leave her wide open.

The two royals circled each other. Now on the defensive, Hans took the full advantage of his longer sword and reach to keep Anna at bay.

“You know, if we talked more about swordplay instead of sandwiches, I might have had a little respect for you,” mocked Hans as he swung his sword against Anna’s latest probe, forcing her step back.

“Enough to not murder Elsa and I?” snarled Anna as she tried to catch Hans’s sword with her dagger and go for a hit with her rapier. Hans managed to free his sword in time to bat the rapier away in a parry.

“If I got Elsa’s attention, I wouldn’t have needed to do that to becoming King. As the spare, you were always the second choice,” Hans shot back, hoping to goad Anna into a mistake. Such an attack might have worked three years ago, instead Anna replied with another lunge that Hans struggled to defend against.

 _How could I be losing to a girl?_ fumed Hans. Even if she had comparable skill, he should be able to overpower her with brute force, like how some of his elder brothers had against him, but his injuries and her skill meant that Anna would not be bested so easily. _If only I could use her training against her._

Hans’s next attack was a textbook one-handed lunge. Anna had practiced defending against such an attack many times from the instructors back at Arendelle castle, when she finally got permission to train. Muscle memory practically took over as the dagger in her left hand intercepted the offending blade, pushing it up and away, leaving Hans’s torso exposed for an ideal piercing strike by her rapier in her right hand. She took a step forward to press her attack.

Anna realised the danger too late to pull back, as stopping her forward momentum now would leave her horribly off balanced. Instead she put all her strength into the lunge, ignoring the pain of her tired muscles to do so.

Arendellian steel pierced Southern Island steel, then pierced fabric but only scratched skin and could not go any deeper. Anna urgently gave a sharp tug to her rapier, but it didn’t budge, stuck in the cuirass.

_Shit._

Anna knew she had to let her precious rapier go, but the moment of hesitation was enough for Hans to land a mean left hook to her jaw. Dazed, she stumbled a step back, barely having the presence of mind to make her dagger meet the downward stroke of Hans’s sword, saving herself from being decapitated.

A second left hook connected to her temple and she almost last balance. Stunned she had no response when Hans swung his sword.

Hans felt with great satisfaction his upward strike cutting through Anna’s fabric and flesh.

“GAAAHHH,” moaned Anna she collapsed to the floor, clutching her bloody torso. Suddenly realising that she had her back to the pit she scrambled back to the closest wall and in her panic even knocked down her dagger into it.

Laughing, Hans strolled victoriously to his victim.

“Déjà vu,” mused Hans, thinking of when he had Elsa in a similar situation back on the unnaturally frozen fjord. “What is it with Queens of Arendelle being at the mercy of my sword?”

“No please!” begged Anna, back against the wall and a bloodied hand pathetically shielding her face. “I’ll…… I’ll marry you! I’ll cancel my engagement and marry you! You can rule Arendelle!”

“I am already getting Arendelle as part of the deal! Being able to get revenge is just a bonus.”

“Wha… what is your plan…?”

Hans decided to indulge Anna’s last request.

”Since you and your sister got me disowned, I’ve had to make my own way in life. Given our history, when the Weselton Council heard of my employment in the Black Guard, they decided to hire us to... assist. I just had to make sure Elsa that faced Maleficent, so I thought of kidnapping you and attacking her village of savages could do the trick. They’ll say that Elsa came here on a misguided quest for revenge against Weselton, attacking a neighbouring sovereign state. There will be tales of the sorceress creating wanton destruction in her wake. Then yours truly will lead a brave defence against the monster, finally stopping her in the castle throne room, but unfortunately not before Elsa kills the Duke in cold blood. And then I reluctantly become King of both Arendelle and Weselton. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of Arendelle for you. I know I’m still appreciated after how I helped during Elsa’s coronation. And you are just a pawn to get Elsa, just like before.”

“You let everyone you work with die just for your own power? You are a monster!” declared Anna, her sudden defiance confusing Hans.

Anna’s dagger flew out from the pit, implanting itself in Hans’s thigh all the way to the crossguard. Hans screamed in pain and anger, but he still brought up his sword for the killing blow on Anna.

“I WILL NOT BE DENIED A SECOND TIME!” yelled Hans.

Anna had leapt up from a crouching position to smash the sharp end of her rapier’s engraved scabbard upwards into his armpit, hitting nerve and cracking bone. Anna rose to her feet and Hans succumbed to the sudden pain, dropping his sword. Anna didn’t give him a chance to recover, smacking the back of his head with the scabbard again, knocking to Hans to the floor.

“But I gutted you, I felt my sword cut deep into you,” protested Hans, clutching his bleeding head.

“Armour,” replied Anna, this time it was her turn to gloat, lifting the top layer of her torn clothes to show the padded armour underneath. Hans groaned in defeated annoyance before Anna hit him again in the forehead, knocking him out cold.

“He probably won’t remember that,” mused Kristoff from the inside the pit, only this head barely visible. “How badly are you hurt?”

“Only a flesh wound,” Anna replied bravely, walking over to Kristoff. “What took you so long?”

“I thought we wanted to hear his plan?”

“We didn’t need to hear the whole thing! We could have pieced together after the first few sentences.”

With some effort Anna pulled Kristoff out of the pit. Her grimaced features made Kristoff think that perhaps the slash at her waist was a bit more serious than a flesh wound.

“I hope it doesn’t scar, but if it does, I hope it’ll be a sexy scar,” flirted Anna as she kissed Kristoff’s head wound. “Can you walk?”

Kristoff tried to put weight on his right leg before it buckled but Anna was there to hold him steady.

“Only very slowly.”

Anna softly set him down on the floor then pulled her dagger out of Hans’s thigh, wiping the blood on Hans’s pant leg. Before she was able to try to pull her rapier out of his cuirass a cold wind caused all the torches to flicker and the temperature to drop a few degrees.

“Elsa,” whispered Anna, concern in her voice. She locked eyes with Kristoff who was experimenting using his sword as a walking stick. Kristoff knew what the look meant.

“Go to her, I’ll catch up.”

“Are you sure you’ll be fine?” asked Anna.

“I’ll be fine,” assured Kristoff.

“Okay, try to. Maybe tie up Hans and see if you can get my sword free.”

With that Anna took a step, stopped, turned back to Kristoff and gave a quick kiss on the lips before sprinting out the doorway.

“Love you honey!” called out the rapidly receding foosteps.

“Love you too,” mumbled Kristoff in response and then again, she was gone.

Doing the best she could to ignore the pain, Anna ran towards the centre of the Weseltonian palace. As she got closer to the senate room, she encountered more and more guards impaled by icicles. Instead of the clear blue ice Elsa normally summoned, these were jagged and darker.

 _Oh no Elsa, what have they made you do?_ worried Anna as she followed the trail of bodies. As her mind involuntarily filled with dread, she willed her tired legs to carry her faster. Anna got there just in time to see a sorceress in black raise her orb topped staff to strike her prone victim in a swirl of dark purple magic.

Quickly notching an arrow, Anna took quick aim and released, hoping she wasn’t too late to save her sister. In her rush, she forgot to compensate for her wound and the pain caused her aim to be off. _Shit!_ Anna cursed internally as instead of hitting the sorceress’s chest, the arrow grazed her thigh instead.

“GET OFF MY SISTER!” she yelled before darting back behind the doorway hurriedly notching another arrow.

“Anna!?” the sorceress blurted. Despite it sounding a little off, Anna immediately recognised Elsa’s voice.

 _Wait, what? Elsa?_ Anna nervously peeked around the corner, her curiosity easily winning out over her caution. Now that the sorceress had turned, Anna could clearly recognise her sister’s face. Despite the black ice dress, the pallid skin and red-tinted eyes, this was unmistakably her sister.

“Elsa! What happened to you?” Anna asked as she fully emerged from cover.

“Anna! You’re alive! And you’re hurt!” Elsa started walking towards her sister, unthinkingly dropping Maleficent's staff,her priorities abruptly shifting. As Anna watched, the dark cloud of magic, apparently unnoticed by Elsa, quickly dissipate. Elsa was practically running when she stumbled into Anna’s embrace.

Anna hugged her sister back tightly as she felt the blonde slowly sagging in exhaustion against her body. As they held each other, colour of returned to Elsa’s complexion, revealing numerous bruises and cuts. Her ice dress whitened to reveal burn marks and blood. When Elsa opened her eyes, they had returned to their natural blue colour, to Anna’s immense relief.

Surveying the carnage in the large room, Anna noticed just one body not impaled by ice, a gagged and tied up redhead.

 _Damn, they tricked Elsa into thinking that I got killed? Sick bastards! Bet it backfired on them!_ fumed Anna. _Wait where did the other sorceress go?_

A cry of surprised pain emanated from Elsa as a blast of dark purple magic hit her back, knocking both sisters to the ground. “No! It’s not yet done!” a shrivelled Maleficent yelled through gritted teeth. Aiming her staff at Anna but looking at Elsa, she declared, “I will kill your sister!”

“Over my dead body!” Pushing off Anna to get onto her feet, Elsa launched herself at Maleficent once more, firing ice bolts that would have impaled a normal person instantly. Instead the weakened Maleficent managed to remain standing, holding her staff for support.

Dark purple magic swirled around both sorceresses when Elsa forced the staff out of the grip of its owner. Anna noticed that neither of them seemed to be bothered by the vortex that seemed to originate from the orb on top of the staff. Colour faded from Elsa’s skin and her ice dress once again darkened in colour.

 _The orb must be drawing from Elsa’s anger!_ Anna realised.

“Elsa! Stop! Get rid of that sceptre!” Anna called out desperately, and her sister hesitated from her next strike.

“If you let me live, I will kill Anna and everyone else that you love. After that I will raze Arendelle to the ground!” Maleficent continued to taunt, successfully drawing Elsa’s attention despite her increasingly feeble defence faltering against Elsa’s attacks.

A revelation struck Anna. _She wants Elsa to kill her! Which means I can’t allow her to._ Taking careful aim with her bow once more, Anna prepared to shoot but was unable to release without risking hitting her sister.

“Elsa, look at me please!” pleaded Anna. Her voice must have had an effect and Elsa paused her frenzy for a brief moment, allowing Anna a clear shot at Maleficent. The steel arrow sailed true, and lodged itself in the dark sorceress’s chest.

An inhuman scream emerged from the swirling dark magic as Maleficent fell to the ground. To her horror, Anna saw fresh blood on Elsa’s chest and a similar wound sympathetically appeared on her sister. Anna rushed forward just in time to catch Elsa before she collapsed.

“Oh no! No no no no!” Tears streamed out of Anna’s eyes while Elsa’s frozen open, eyes only reflected the chaotic purple swirl of magic as it made a sound that could only be a scream of agony. Slowly the dark magic retreated back into the orb on top of the staff, causing it to glow bright purple for a moment before dimming into nothingness. This went unnoticed by Anna, who was kneeling with Elsa’s head on her lap, swaying back and forth and sobbing uncontrollably.

A few minutes passed, but to Anna, it felt like an eternity of sadness as she cradled her motionless sister in her arms. There was no sound, save for Anna’s sniffling.

 _Okay, get up Anna. Focus on next thing. Got to check in with General Mattias, pick up Kristoff and Hans. Hans would wish for death if I find out he cooked up this scheme._ A smile began to form she entertained the thought. _No! I’m better than that. Next right thing. Next right thing._ Anna reminded herself. She reverently crossed Elsa’s hands over her chest and got up. _I’ll be back to take you home, Elsa._

Wiping a tear off her face, Anna started walking to the door. A soft gasp coming from behind her made her stop in her tracks. On any other day, such a sound would have sent Anna running back to her sister’s side, but given the events of this week, Anna was half expecting to put down an undead Elsa as she turned around.

With a deep breath Elsa suddenly darted up to a sitting position and grasped her chest for the wound that was no longer there.

“Anna? Anna, where are you?” Elsa cried, looking around frantically.

Deciding that her sister wasn’t a zombie, Anna ran back towards her. “I’m here, Elsa. I’m here,” cooed Anna as she knelt to hold Elsa.

“You’re bleeding again,” Elsa said, noticing the dampness at Anna’s midriff as her wound had reopened. Anna grimaced as cold from Elsa’s carefully summoned her clear, blue ice tenderly sealed the wound. 

“You’re one to talk. Can you still walk?” Elsa nodded yes, and Anna helped Elsa up to her feet, getting a clearer view of the fresh blood on Elsa’s ice dress. “How?”

“You interrupted her transfer,” a new voice softly answered from where Maleficent’s body lay. “With any luck her soul will be lost in the magical planes for eternity.” Slowly and cautiously, both sisters made their way to the source, ready to defend themselves. Instead of finding her, they found a different middle aged woman, who was seemingly aging before their very eyes.

Elsa recognised her from the ice statues of Ahtohalla. “You’re Princess Aurora.”

“Yes I was, but for too long I have been a prisoner of my own body,” replied Aurora weakly. She gestured with her hand and several colourful flowers bloomed from the cracks between the floors. “I just wanted to make something pretty again,” Aurora said sadly.

Anna didn’t hesitate as she crouched and took Aurora’s hands. “They’re beautiful,” Anna assured with a smile.

“Thank you,” Aurora replied before she closed her eyes and exhaled one last time.

“That could have been me,” Elsa realised. “I was so close. You saved me again Anna.” She looked around at all the death in the room that she was the cause of. “Well most of me at least.”

Anna took her sister’s hand and held it tightly. “Let’s go home. Kristoff’s a few levels downs from here and is keeping an eye on Hans. Oh! Did I mention Hans is here too? He was rolling with the Black Guard.”

“It’s probably better if I don’t go home,” Elsa suddenly said quietly but firmly, interrupting Anna’s ramble.

“Wait what? Why?”

“I just wiped out the entire leadership of another nation, Anna. I and by extension, Arendelle will be an international pariahs. Perhaps it is better if I had died here tonight,” Elsa calmly stated.

“What are you suggesting?” Anna’s voiced filled with concern, afraid of the answer. She couldn’t lose Elsa again.

Elsa walked to the centre of the room and approached the body of deceased red headed prisoner. “We encountered a bunch of the Duke’s thugs abducting village girls,” Anna solemnly mentioned to her sister. “We thought they were going to be trafficked. It never occurred to us they were looking for someone who looked like me to fool you. Maybe there others around here, we should rescue them!”

“The Duke did put in some real effort,” Elsa admitted, carefully closing the dead girl’s blue- green eyes. Close up, no one would have mistaken her for Anna but the resemblance was close enough that it had fooled Elsa just a few minutes earlier. “She could have passed for our sister.”

Something clicked in Anna’s mind and she exhaled a breath she didn’t realise she was holding. “Phew! I thought you were going to say you wanted to off yourself! But you want to fake your death? Wait, you _are_ planning to pass her off as your body right? I’m not misunderstanding you?”

Elsa answered with a slow nod. Anna continued, “Okayy… Isn’t that a little drastic? Surely we can figure something out. This… isn’t that bad…” Anna gestured towards the Weseltonians still impaled on Elsa’s ice and grimaced. “I’m sure we can figure something out,” she said with voice full of doubt.

“We both know the political fallout from this will be harsh. Weselton got isolated just for attempting to assassinate me; I actually invaded another capital with a snowman army and practically wiped out the government. Other nations could even declare war on us. If there was another way, I would be the first to take it,” Elsa explained as she bent down and frosted the dead girl’s red hair to make it look like her own.

“And Arendelle and Northuldra would fight to keep you safe,” Anna finished, putting an arm around Elsa’s shoulder. “I guess weekly visits to home will be out of the question.”

Elsa took her sister’s hand in hers. “We’ll figure something out.”

General Mattias was at the outskirts of the town, supervising the internment of the surrendered Weseltonian soldiers and the provision of first aid to anyone who needed it. The prisoners stared fearfully at the enlarged Snowgies that were milling around at the edges of the field. Despite knowing that they were Elsa’s, there was something off about these creations, making him disturbed at their presence. He did his best to conceal it for the sake of everyone else, concentrating instead at the tasks at hand. Runners from advance units of the Arendellian army sent into the city had started to arrive, reporting no resistance. Olaf, being his usual self despite the recent battle, had wandered off to go exploring on his own. 

Anxiously waiting for the report from the team sent to the Weseltonian Palace, Mattias moved on to a different group officers, helping arrange the logistics for his army’s overnight encampment. Suddenly, a cry of alarm came from one of the sentries. Assuming it was a counter attack, Mattias was about to issue orders but realised that the sentry was pointing at the Snowgies. Initially puzzled as why that was so alarming, he soon picked out little wisps of snow floating off the magical creatures.

Sounds of confusion quickly became groans of disbelief as the Aredellians realised what that signified. Soldiers used both the titles of Queen and Princess interchangeably as they mourned the passing of their royal. Mattias felt all his worries from the past few days bubble to the surface. He had been unable to fulfil in his task of protecting Agarr but now his eldest daughter had fallen under his protection. Despite the knowledge that he was in full view of his men, he couldn’t control the tears spilling down his cheeks.

It was surreal to witness one’s own funeral, doubly so when you had missed your own parent’s. At least losing control of her ice from the grief was a problem that no longer bothered her. The funeral was a relatively low-key affair for a monarch, as Anna had been forced to disavow Elsa’s actions.

Although not allowed to the event the towns people had lined the streets to express their condolence as the small convoy passed through. Elsa had donned a plain mourning cloak and joined her people as the hearse rode by. She was concerned that by denouncing her, Anna might have lost the support of the public. So much so that others in with claims to the Arendellian throne might move to dispose Anna, but overheard conversations put that particular worry to rest. No one in Arendelle believed Anna truly felt that way, understanding it was for political reasons to keep the bigger countries at bay. Countries who now feared what she could have done to them, feared the monster she had momentarily become. 

The palace staff had kept the secret of her powers safe for years, so Elsa was confident that the few people who knew the secret of her survival would similarly keep it safe. It was sadly decided that it was too risky for her to visit Arendelle regularly anymore. Gale mail still existed, and Anna still had reason for occasional trips to the Enchanted Forest, so contact with her sister would still be maintained. Yelena was sure their people would protect both Elsa and the secret of her survival. She was one of them by both blood and deed. Few outsiders, even Arendellians, visited despite the fog lifting, so the Northuldra were more than happy to take her in. Nevertheless Elsa planned to keep her distance and now donned furs in case there were prying eyes in the woods. It just wasn’t the same without Honeymaren around.

So a few days later, after her first Fifth Sprit tour of duty since getting back, Elsa found herself at the burial site where those lost to the Black Guard lay. She found the stone that marked Honeymaren and sat down beside it. Elsa talked aloud about how the despite recent events, the all was well as far as the spirits were concerned. The village was well underway for the preparation to move to the summer pastures. Farther south, other nations were too busy squabbling over what to do with Weselton to pay much attention to Arendelle, apparently satisfied with Elsa’s death to leave them alone. Though it all, both of her peoples seemed slowly but surely moving on.

Suddenly Elsa had the feeling of someone approaching her from behind. Only two people would do this so Elsa took her fifty-fifty chance. “Hey, Yelena,” she said confidently as she stood up and turned around. She had guessed wrong.

“You!” Elsa hissed in both surprise and irritation. Before her stood a very cheerful looking Delsa, wearing her blue dress and raven hair glinting in the sunlight, altogether imposing more physical presence than before. The lack of reaction of others mourners told Elsa that only she was seeing her.

“Why are you still here? What do you want?” asked Elsa aggressively.

“Oh I’m fine, thanks for asking. How are you doing? Honest question actually,” Delsa replied.

Elsa nevertheless ignored it. “Why didn’t you go to where ever Maleficent ended up?”

“Yea I was meaning to ask about that, since we’re still here I suppose we won? And now that she’s gone I actually starting to remember some stuff too.”

“Like what?” Elsa couldn’t help but be curious.

“Like how some of Malaficient’s other magic is still causing harm around the world. I was thinking you might want to check some of it out. Could be interesting,” said Delsa hopefully.

Seconds of silence ticked past as Elsa considered. Anna had told her how much damage was done to the countryside because of the abuse of magic. Could she even trust Delsa and follow her into the unknown? On the other hand, there people in need that she had the ability to help. Maybe her role as the Fifth Spirit didn’t end at the Enchanted Forest’s borders. Maybe instead of a self-imposed exile, she could still make a difference. 

“Tell me more.”

The former Prince Hans of the Southern Isles languished in the same dungeon that he had locked up the then Queen Elsa all those years ago. To him, it seemed very much like several lifetimes ago. Perhaps even with lifetimes or two worth of experiences. He toyed with the unfinished food of his meagre rations, he was hungry but the food was unappetising, strictly for nourishment only.

He heard the guard come to collect his meal. This was earlier than normal.

“I’m not done yet,” he called out, hurriedly sticking another spoonful of the bland gloop into his mouth.

“I beg to differ, for you most certainly are,” came to reply. Hans looked up to see his brother, Admiral Lars Westergaard, sent to Arendelle to atone for his attempted regicide, peering in through the door’s viewport. Two discarded spares, but at least Lars still had his title.

“I was wondering if you would ever come to see me. Come to gloat?” Hans deadpanned.

“We both know I’d be lying if I said I wanted to come sooner,” came the reply. “As you can imagine, I’m being closely watched out of mistaken assumption that we actually care about one another.”

“Since you’re here, let me ask you’ve seen Elsa body. Is she really dead?”

“Not so fast dear brother. I know you’re always up to something. And since you were in the company of a real life evil sorceress, I’m willing to bet you must have some magical trinkets stashed away. Your bit of information for mine.”

“Are you serious? This isn’t a fair trade at all,” protested Hans.

“From where I’m standing, which is not in a dungeon, I might add, seems pretty fair to me. I’ll do you a solid and go first. I did see a body that looked a lot like her. Everyone seems suitably sad. Access to the Enchanted Forest has been tightened too, could be hiding something or maybe the Northuldra aren’t fans of outsiders anymore. If there is some deception, they are keeping the circle pretty closed. Your turn.”

Hans debated about how much he should reveal to his brother. Enough to get him intrigued but not too much that Hans would have nothing left to bargain with.

“There are powerful magical items that we are able to wield,” Hans began, his words having the desired effect as his brother leaned in closer. “Maleficent accumulated many such items and knowledge over the centuries, to keep us normal humans from having access. Secret spells, powerful potions, magic lamps, even the Trident of Atlantis itself. But if don’t think I’m telling you where any of these things are hidden before I get out of this hole.”

Lars smiled conspiratorially. “And once you’re out, where do we begin?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been almost a year ago, but Anna did say that she'll be commissioning armour for herself wayyy back in chapter 1.
> 
> This is my first multi chapter work and the first time I'm publishing online so thank you for bearing with me. I apologise for my inconsistent updates, as I've found out that having an idea for a story and actually writing it down took much longer than I estimated. Mainly due to procrastination and Steam sales.
> 
> Thank you for sticking around and reading my story!


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